ADEN Flint deserved to be sent off against Macclesfield for failing to stay on his feet in the tackle, according to Swindon Town manager Paolo Di Canio, writes SAM MORSHEAD.

Flint was given his marching orders after 64 minutes of the 2-0 home defeat to the non-league outfit in the FA Cup on Saturday for a lunge on visiting striker Amari Morgan-Smith on the halfway line.

It was the centre-back’s second dismissal in three home matches and left his boss fuming on the touchline.

Di Canio has stressed both publicly and privately to Flint in the recent past the casual recklessness of jumping into a tackle for no good reason, and he was upset that the defender failed to take heed of that warning once again.

He said: “When I say we are average the people go angry. Have you seen Flint? Three games, three challenges from behind. What did I say in the last press conference, to Flint and to you? Every day you don’t need to tackle from behind.

“Today, in a normal moment because we should come back, he tackled from behind. I don’t know if it was a yellow or a red, it was a bad tackle for no one reason.

“I can’t achieve brain limit, especially when you are under pressure.”

Di Canio refused to question referee Andy Davies’ decision to show Flint the red card, saying the official’s rationale was justified.

“I don’t want to judge the referee. I am a top manager; I am too big for this. I can’t say ‘probably it can be a 50-50 yellow’, we known the rules are more straight. He deserved a yellow. This is what manager I am,” he said.

“Even if it was more lateral, not from behind, 50-50, he deserved it because every single moment, every single day I work with them and say to them ‘in every action I make, I don’t need to dive’.

“Seventy yards from my goal, three men behind him who can protect his goal, one counter attack, one man versus four, he dives and challenges the opponent on the ground.

“Even if he won the ball, where would the ball go? It’s not in his control in the middle of the field. Why did he have to dive always?

“The limit is the limit. Red card? It’s a deserved red card.

“I am a top manager. We fully prepared him before.”