There were many decisions made by the referee during AFC Wimbledon's 2-1 defeat to Rochdale that left fans angry, but one decision left some fans more intrigued than furious.

The man in the middle, Brendan Malone, opted to wear a red shirt during the game, leading some in the stands to question whether the players reacted to him like a red rag to bull and which resulted in a tempestuous affair in which Jack Midson was sent off.

One fan, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "Red is a totally wrong colour for a referee to manage a game of football, which involves people. Do the powers that be not understand the power and impact of colour on attitudes?

"I would love to see some stats on the shirt colour of referees and the number of yellow and red cards subsequently shown, and how often, supporters, management and players become embroiled in fractious games?"

The Football League said: "Referees have a choice of four colours - black, yellow, green and red.

"On this occasion it was decided that black was too close to the AFC Wimbldeon kit, yellow too close to the Rochdale kit and green clashed with the goalkeepers.

"We have never believed that a referee in a red shirt could cause problems, there are many teams with red shirts."

They added: "If we were made aware of problems then we may investigate, but that is not the case."

Dons manager Terry Brown called the trend of allowing referees to wear red "rubbish".