Ballymena United manager Jim Ervin has questioned the handling of Josh Carson’s three-game suspension which will see him miss Tuesday’s visit from Crusaders.

The four-times capped former Northern Ireland international was initially shown a yellow card for his challenge on Linfield’s Ethan McGee on the opening day of the season but admitted afterwards he “got away” with only a booking.

While Ervin was not debating whether the tackle was worthy of a dismissal, he questioned why word of the retroactive ban came six days later with the news breaking only hours before Carson and his Ballymena team-mates would take on Coleraine on Friday night.

Ervin said the midfielder was initially unsure if he would have to be pulled from the squad for the derby game which the Sky Blues ultimately lost 4-2.

“When it breaks in the press, and the player himself is ringing to ask is he available for selection, it’s not great practice,” said Ervin.

“The timing could have been right. There was a lot of confusion around the time. Yes, the suspension doesn’t kick in to Monday but at the time when the news broke, we weren’t aware of that, we hadn’t seen the whole details. We weren’t sure.”

The former Linfield man, in his second season at the Ballymena Showgrounds, is concerned the nature of the punishment will lead to plenty of post-game scrutiny of decisions this season.

“They’ve now set a standard,” he added.

“I hope they remain to that standard throughout the rest of the season. It’s going to be a long, long season.

“I just feel like now every tackle is going to be scrutinised. If there’s late tackles, any still pictures that are going to go on social media, if that’s what the referees are going to be held to, there’s going to be a lot of decisions challenged this year.”

Ervin added Coleraine winger Andy Scott and Larne defender Sean Brown to his squad on Monday, with the latter set for his second loan stint at the Showgrounds after being at the club for the second half of last season.