Dave Jones today mounted a passionate defence of Kevin Davies - sent off in Saints' 2-1 defeat at Leicester.

Davies had been on the field as a substitute for just nine minutes on Saturday when he was dismissed for a lunge on Gerry Taggart.

In the heat of the moment it looked bad with the home players and fans screaming that he had broken the defender's leg as Taggart was stretchered off. He turned out to need just three stitches.

Davies will collect an automatic three-match ban but, with the break for internationals, that will stretch to almost a month. He misses Premiership visits to Wimbledon and Aston Villa, plus the home clash against Spurs.

The red card left Jones fuming, not least because Leicester's Emile Heskey had escaped with a booking for an almost identical challenge on Hassan Kachloul earlier.

The manager said: "It was not a sending-off. The referee said it was two-footed but it was not two-footed. It was a fraction late but he was going for the ball. Of course Kevin is sorry he caught the lad but we are talking about a split-second. It was slightly mis-timed and it deserved a booking but there was no malice. If he had stamped on him or elbowed him it would be different.

"I did not see anything different from what Heskey did to Hassan and that is why a lot of managers are having problems with referees at the moment.

"It seems you get a yellow card now if you touch an opponent. If I was playing now I would have lasted about five minutes. Referees are killing the game"

Davies left the ground with a clear conscience after the second red card of his career, the first coming in his Chesterfield days.

He said: "Matthew Le Tissier played the ball through and I went for it. I was very close to getting it but their lad got there a split-second beforehand and I caught him.

"There was no malice or intent. Their players were telling the referee he had broken his leg and the crowd reacted angrily too. Maybe that played a part in the decision."

Saints thought they were down to nine men moments later when Kachloul was shown a red card - before referee Barry Knight realised he he had not already booked the Moroccan.

Jones added: "I did not think Hassan deserved a booking for that but we should not be talking about the referee. We should be talking about the way we lost the game. The referee did not cost us the two goals. He did not fail to defend the second ball in the box. We played some good football at times but we are suicidal at times."

Saints were today due to have talks with the Welsh FA who want Mark Hughes to become full-time manager when his contract expires at the end of this season.

The club may offer the 35-year-old a new one-year deal hoping that the Welsh FA will allow him to do the job part-time.

Sunderland meet Aston Villa at The Stadium of Light in tonight's Premiership action.

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