Dons first-team coach Tuvey handed touchline ban and Dons fined £2k by FA

AFC Wimbledon first-team coach Rob Tuvey has been handed a one-match touchline ban and a £250 fine after he admitted to using “abusive and insulting words” towards a match official in their 1-0 defeat at home to Sutton United.

The FA have announced that the club had also been fined £2,000 after admitting to failing to ensure that its players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion during the 31st minute of the game at Plough Lane on October 15.

The incident came after Sutton scored their opener. A free-kick from Robert Milsom led to Joseph Mohamed Kizzi clattering with Jack Currie in the penalty area and subsequently knocking the ball out of Nik Tzanev’s hands for Craig Eastmond to score.

Tuvey, who was promoted to the first-team coaching staff by Mark Robinson and became his assistant, was kept on by Johnnie Jackson went he was appointed as Wimbledon manager over the summer.

The FA have also said that the independent regulatory commission’s written reasons for these sanctions will be published in due course.

Tuvey looks set to be absent from the sidelines for Saturday’s trip to take on National League South side Weymouth in the first round of the FA Cup.

Following the defeat to Sutton, Jackson told Wimbledon’s official media channel: “It’s a foul on Jack Currie. His shirt was being pulled, and he was nudged into Nik Tzanev.

“I guess that’s why the referee hasn’t given it because it was our own player who has collided with him, but he has been forced to collide with Tzanev because of the attacking player.

“It seemed like an easy decision to make. He is probably the only one in the stadium who thought that it wasn’t a foul, but he’s the only one who matters, really. The mind boggles at that one a bit.

“I think the referee spoke to the linesman, but you have to wonder what role they’re playing. The fourth official is there telling me that it wasn’t a foul. Between them, they have got it wrong.”

PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD