Akpan is told to cool it (From The Argus)

Akpan is told to cool it

9:00am Monday 29th October 2012 in Sport By Steve Hollis

Hope Akpan has been warned he must clean up his act after being sent off in Crawley's 1-1 draw against Oldham Athletic on Saturday.

The former Everton midfielder was shown a straight red card for a reckless lunge on Robbie Simpson in the second half at Broadfield Stadium.

Oldham – who had already been reduced to ten men in the first half following the dismissal of Jean-Yves M’Voto – took the lead five minutes later but Kyle McFadzean grabbed a point for Crawley to lift them to second in League One.

It was the fourth time Akpan has been dismissed in 51 games for Crawley and he now faces a four match ban having been sent off against Portsmouth earlier this season.

Reds boss Richie Barker said: “Hope needs to make sure this doesn’t become a habit because this is his second sending off in six weeks.

“He is not a dirty player but he has got to learn that staying on his feet will mean he plays more matches and at the minute he is spending too much time suspended.

“I don’t think there was any malice in it. I don’t think he was trying to hurt anybody, unfortunately it was just a lunge when he should have stayed on his feet.

“He is only 21 and people at times wonder why he is not playing at the next level. Maybe that might be one of the reasons.

“He is a young player and sometimes people expect too much of him but he needs to learn about the game.”