Garry Monk has admitted that the three red carded players on Tuesday showed a lack of discipline

Monk - along with Gorka Pintado and Angel Rangel - were all red carded in the Carling Cup defeat to Scunthorpe but although he admits to a lack of discipline on the part of the players he is not shying away from asking the referee to shoulder some of the blame.

Many fans blamed the referee for losing control of the game after a series of bad decisions with the Swans losing their heads as a result.

The Swans captain told the Evening Post "It was a lack of discipline from the three of us

"In my instance I should know better. I'm normally a lot better with that kind of stuff.

"I've pulled out of the tackle and he's dived. The referee has shown that he has dived, and I told him (O'Connor) that he'd cheated me.

"He got up and I could feel him running up behind me. I stopped dead, we hit each other, I turned around and it wasn't a headbutt but more of a coming together.

"I shouldn't have got involved. I hold my hands up.

"It's disappointing because we were controlling the game at that point.

"The three of us will have to learn the hard way and take the punishment with the games we are missing.

"We apologised to the boys and management straightaway. I felt that I had let the boys down.

"But you won't see that reaction again from me in my career.

"The referee has to take some blame. He couldn't totally control the game from start to finish," said Monk.

"I could tell before the game when I spoke to him he was nervous.

"There were a few incidents where he lost control of the game.

"With my incident I deserved to be sent off, but how the other lad (O'Connor) got away with diving and trying to get a penalty I don't know. I'm not asking for him to be sent off, but how the ref doesn't say anything to him is beyond me.

"They got away with quite a bit. They realised the ref was quite weak and that they could push the boundaries a little bit.

"If the ref did his job properly then he would have booked the player and what followed doesn't happen.

"But that isn't excusing what the three of us did. We will hold our hands up.

"The most important thing is that we focus on tomorrow's game," he added.

"Our spirits are fine — there are no problems with that.

"We want to finish this week with a high. If we can get a win going into the international break it will make things rosier than they are now."

Photo: Action Images

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