Tonbridge boss Steve McKimm says the referee who sent him off had it in for him.

McKimm was dismissed from the touchline after a 20-man melee at the end of Angels’ 1-0 defeat by struggling Burgess Hill on Saturday.

He was trying to break up trouble by holding back the visitors’ physio.

McKimm felt the referee was looking for an excuse to give him his marching orders.

He said: “He had it in for me from the 17th minute of the game and at the start of the second half he came over and said if I came out of the dugout into the technical area, he’d send me off.

“When I tried to explain things to him, he didn’t want to hear it.

“If I’d done something wrong, why not send me off there and then instead of telling me I had to stay in the dugout? That was my point after the game.

“I find it amazing how at the end there, when there’s 18 or 20 people involved, with all the pushing and shoving, that the linesman picks me out when all I’m doing is holding the physio who would have flown in.

“We were the only two who got picked out and he couldn’t be sent off because he does the bag.”

Angels had numerous chances but the visitors held on to move off the foot of the Bostik Premier.

McKimm said: “We used every striker we had and they all had a gilt-edged chance to score.

“We just can’t score goals at the moment but it will turn around. We’re getting in the right areas, it’s a matter of the players having faith in themselves because I have faith in them.”

Tonbridge remain 11th going into their game at Needham Market on Saturday.