Magnanimous Colchester United defender Joe Dunne is ready to take it full on the chin if he was wrongfully booked instead of his team-mate Karl Duguid in the U's Division Two defeat by Burnley.

Dunne claimed to know nothing about a possible mix-up hours after the game was over, but Duguid was sure referee Rob Styles ticked off Dunne's name instead of his following an 83rd-minute skirmish with Burnley's Ian Wright.

Duguid said: "I pointed to my name on the referee's card - like a mini-teamsheet - but I'm positive he put a tick beside Joe's name instead."

Duguid's squad number is seven, while Dunne wears six. Wright was also cautioned after the incident.

But Dunne insisted as far as he is aware he did not get booked on Saturday.

He said: "I was nowhere near the incident, but the referee had warned me a few seconds earlier that he would book me if I fell out of line again following a poor tackle on another Burnley player.

"If the ref has made a mistake then I guess he got mixed up between me and Dugy.

"I won't make a big issue out of it, or demand an appeal against the booking. I don't mind taking it on the chin for a player like Dugy because I know I can keep out of trouble for the rest of the season."

U's boss Steve Whitton said: "The whole thing is a mystery to me.

"Dugy told me what happened, but we'll just have to wait for the referee's report and take things from there."

Of the game itself, although clearly disappointed with the result, Whitton remained upbeat. He said: "It was just another part of a learning curve for my team.

"But we were very frustrated because we had two or three players below par on the day, I think the occasion got to them, and we didn't play the style of football we like to play.

"I can't fault the lads' effort, there was plenty of that. But for mistakes at both ends, the way the game started I thought it had 0-0 written all over it.

"We gave away two bad goals because our marking wasn't tight enough from two set pieces. And although Steve McGavin finished it off well, even the goal we got was gifted to us because of a bad mistake by the Burnley keeper.

"The positive thing about the game was the fact that we were not carved up by a side packed with expensive players that in my view look destined to go up."

Wright here, right now - Burnley's big-name striker Ian Wright helped to swell the crowd to a season's best 6,194 at Layer Road and, right, was embraced by U's star Lomana Tresor Lua Lua after the final whistle.

Pictures: STEVE ARGENT

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.