Michael Carvill (number 10) gets his marching orders from Colin Burns

Linfield manager David Jeffrey hit out at Ballymena United player Aidan Watson after Thursday's JJB Sports Premiership clash won by the Blues at Windsor Park.

Blues striker Michael Carvill was sent off for retaliation during Linfield's 1-0 win after clashing with Watson.

Jeffrey claimed that Watson had "deliberately" kicked the ball at Carville when the Linfield player was on the ground after being fouled.

Ballymena boss Roy Walker dubbed Jeffrey's comments "grossly unfair".

"I don't think there was any malice. It all happened so quickly," Walker told BBC Sport.

"It's a very, very serious thing that David is accusing the player of.

"He's entitled to his opinion and I'm also entitled to disagree vehemently with his opinion and his interpretation."

However, Jeffrey didn't hold back in his assessment of the first-half incident which led to Carvill's straight red card.

Carvill had won a free-kick but he reacted by pushing Watson in the throat after the Ballymena player had kicked the ball at him.

"I'm not going to miss and hit the wall," Jeffrey told Radio Ulster's Sportsound.

We were seemingly lacking in a wee bit of belief Ballymena manager Roy Walker

"When another player drives the ball when a player is down on the ground, purposely looking to hit him, to me the only thing that it lower is when another player goes and spits on him.

"I think it's an awful cowardly act."

Jeffrey added that he had "challenged" Watson about the incident in the tunnel at Windsor Park during the half-time interval.

The Linfield boss heaped praise on his injury-ravaged side as their 1-0 win moved them back to the top of the table.

"They were tremendous and I was absolutely delighted with them although I have got to pick out Steven Douglas and William Murphy for their displays."

Ballymena boss Walker said his side had "missed a great opportunity".

"We're disappointed not just in the result but also that we didn't do ourselves justice today.

"We were seemingly lacking in a wee bit of belief and we looked a bit lethargic and stand-offish.

"But I'm not going to be harsh. Some of the lads are still learning their trade."

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