Blues boss Steve Cotterill: Ref got it wrong against Wolves

N'Diaye clashed with Maikel Kieftenbeld and ex-Wolves man Stephen Gleeson during Wolves' 1-0 derby win, going head to head with the former and then grabbing the latter by the face.

Referee Simon Hooper gave N'Diaye a yellow card and later sent off Blues' Harlee Dean for pushing over Diogo Jota.

Cotterill claimed Dean was merely trying to be 'peacemaker'.

When told that Nuno Espirito Santo had complained about Blues' aggressive tactics, Cotterill said: "I don't care what his (Nuno's) thoughts are. He probably doesn't care about mine and I have no interest in his.

"I think he (N’Diaye) should have been sent off.

"He’s gone head to head with Kieftenbeld and I don’t think there's too much wrong with it, but the slap that he gives Stephen Gleeson he should have been sent off for.

"He didn't headbutt him but he did give Gleeson a clip round the face. That's a straight red. If Gleeson goes to the floor he gets sent off.

"I thought the referee was very lenient with that, because I think that should have been a straight red card.

"The (Dean) red card was very weak. If he (Jota) should fall to the floor God knows what Stephen Gleeson should have done when N'Diaye went head to head with Kieftenbeld.

"I think he’s gone over to be a peacemaker. I didn’t see the lad (Jota) fall over too much easier in the game than when Harlee grabbed him around the waist.

"It was heat of the moment. It was obviously disappointing that the ref decided to give him a red card and yet he didn’t one to their player."

Wolves earned all three points thanks to Leo Bonatini's eighth minute strike.

Blues improved in the second half but failed to register a single shot on target.

Cotterill added: "I thought our second half performance warranted something out of the game. I looked at their (Wolves') technical area in the second half and I think we had them on the ropes for a little while.

"We just didn’t have that knock-out punch that we needed.

"I’ve seen Wolves a lot this season and I think they were average – I’ve seen them play a lot better against a lot of other teams.

"It would have been interesting to see if we’d got our noses in front because if we had I think we’d have gone on to win that game."

And on Wolves' winner, which was given via the aid of goal-line technology, Cotterill said: "It was obviously close because it ended up being the goal-line technology that gave the goal.

"Perhaps if we had not had that maybe that goal would have counted because I am not sure the linesman had seen it."