WANDERERS midfielder Neil Danns has hit out at suggestion he dived to get Brighton’s Jamie Murphy sent off in Saturday’s 2-2 draw at the Macron Stadium.

The Bolton star tweeted a picture of the damage caused by the second-half challenge, which earned Albion’s Glaswegian winger a straight red card from referee Mark Haywood.

After being accused of play-acting on social media, the 32-year-old Liverpudlian answered back: “The swelling and stud mark shows it wasn’t a dive, lucky my foot wasn’t planted.”

Brighton boss Chris Hughton said he was considering an appeal against the decision, which is likely to carry with it a three-match suspension.

Hughton – who had not seen all video replays at the point he talked to the media on Saturday evening – felt his player had slipped, rather than gone in with intent.

“My interpretation of dangerous play is maybe studs raised and catching somebody,” he said. “But from what I have seen so far-and unless someone shows me a closer angle, he (Murphy) slipped and swept the lads’ feet away.

“We had a situation last week (against Wolves) when one of their players was sent off for what I saw was for the right reasons: studs showing and he caught Rosenoir on the shin or the ankle with feet off the ground.

“That was not anywhere near the case with Murphy. I would have been the first one to hold my hand up if I had seen studs up. But from my angle that’s not what I’ve seen.

“Now, I’ve got to try and get as many angles of the incident as I can. My first impression is ‘yes, I would like to appeal.’ Once we have analysed it properly we need to make what we think is the right decision.”

Wanderers boss Neil Lennon backed the referee’s call but knows former Motherwell man Murphy from his time in Scottish football and admitted the challenge was quite out of character.

“It was the right decision, high, and it should have been a sending off but Jamie Murphy isn’t like that so I’m not going to bang on about it,” he told The Bolton News. “But I thought the referee got the call right.”