Chris Beech has defended Gime Toure after the Carlisle United man’s goalscoring debut ended with a controversial red card.

Toure opened the scoring for the Cumbrians but was then dismissed in the closing moments of United’s 3-1 defeat to Fleetwood.

The ex-Hartlepool man was shown a straight red card by ref Ben Speedie after he kicked out in frustration after conceding a free-kick to Fleetwood’s Wes Burns.

Head coach Beech said Toure had simply kicked the floor, although the opposition player’s reaction implied he had been struck by the Carlisle man’s boot.

United’s boss said he had not seen the incident back but said of Toure: “What I did see was a winger who is trying to commit to our traits. He had good attacking moments, he got tired towards the end, and in that tiredness he tracked Wes Burns, who is one of the quickest players Fleetwood have.

“Gime got the better of him and the only way out for Wes was for him to fall over, so he dived.

“The ref bought the foul and in that frustration of that moment I think Gime kicked the floor.

“I was probably one of the furthest away from it but if he’d done it deliberately I wouldn’t be happy at all. When it’s like it was, you just forgive and move on.”

Beech said it was a “positive” that Toure’s suspension will be specific to the EFL Trophy.

He said he had asked his players for their honest view of the incident, and added: “Wes was professional, but his way out of it was to fall over. We’ve got to get better at that, but he only fell over because Gime took the ball off him.

“I haven’t seen it, but it sounds like he’s kicked the grass in frustration because the foul has been given against him when it wasn’t a foul, and clipped the end of the boot of the Fleetwood player on the ground.

“The ref has deemed it as violent conduct as if he’d just whacked somebody, but he didn’t do that.”

Beech said French forward Toure had shown some of his undoubted ability in United’s better spells of the EFL Trophy game.

The summer signing scored from close range in the 36th minute, with Fleetwood’s claims for offside rejected by the officials.

Toure had other positive moments in the tie and Beech said: “He’s a good lad. He’s got to learn the way we play but he brings different skills that a lot of players don’t have.

“He scored [in the friendly] at Wigan as well, so he’s made a big impact in a short space of time.

“He’s also been doing a lot of extra training to try and catch up. He’ll find his feet and I’m pleased he got a goal.

“He has skills you can’t coach. He’ll twist and turn people inside out and what you need from a player like that is assists and goals.”