Exeter City boss Gary Caldwell unhappy with Rekeem Harper red card

Referee Andrew Kitchen showed Rekeem Harper a second yellow card just before the hour-mark of Exeter City's loss at Port Vale

Exeter City manager Gary Caldwell says he is unhappy at the red card given to Rekeem Harper in their 1-0 loss at Port Vale in League One.

The defeat was a third in four winless games for City, who have won just twice in their eight games in 2023.

Harper was given two yellow cards in 11 second-half minutes - his first sending-off since December 2017.

"I didn't think the first one was a booking, I thought the second one was soft," Caldwell told BBC Radio Devon.

"I don't know how other players didn't get booked. There was a horrendous tackle here and a horrendous tackle on Will (Aimson) that went unnoticed.

"We have to live with that, we have to look ourselves first, I didn't think the ref was great, but we have to look at ourselves."

Caldwell was also disappointed that it took a man to get sent off for Exeter to get going. He brought on four substitutes in the 15 minutes after the red card.

"I thought it was our best moment in the game, that's when we started being brave, that's when we started winning more duels and that's when we looked our biggest threat in the game, which is the biggest disappointment really," he said.

"But we kept going, we created opportunities with 10 men, but couldn't quite get a clear-cut chance to score at that moment."