DAVID Flitcroft refused to make any excuses for the behaviour of Swindon Town goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux after the former Liverpool gloveman was slapped with a four-match ban by the Football Association over a tunnel incident after the 2-1 home defeat by Coventry City on September 26.

Vigouroux was sanctioned by the governing body for using foul and abusive language towards match officials in the wake of the loss to the Sky Blues, having been shown a red card by referee Charles Breakspear after the final whistle The 23-year-old will miss our Saturday’s trip to Cheltenham Town as well as next weekend’s League Two visit to Mansfield Town, plus the home clash against Lincoln City on October 17 and the visit of Wycombe Wanderers four days later.

Flitcroft, who confirmed Vigouroux would also be censured by the club over the incident, made no plea of mitigation on behalf of his player, confirming there had been “a lack of respect’’ shown towards the match officials and revealing Town had assure the governing body over future conduct.

The Town boss was not immediately aware of any issue when he held a debrief with Breakspear in the minutes after the final whistle 10 days ago before being informed about it by chief executive Steve Anderson, the gravity of the situation being confirmed by the statements of the four match officials on duty.

“It’s a lack of respect that Lawrence has shown towards the match officials, he was disrespectful to them and this is something I really can’t stand,’’ said Flitcroft.

“I don’t advocate it. It doesn’t matter to me how poor the referee’s been.

“I’ve been 10 years in the dugout and never even got close to being sent off. I know the line, I understand the line. I’ve been brought up very well, respecting all forms of responsibility, whether that’s the police or anyone in a privileged position.

“There’s no safe haven from that angle that I’m going to give him. He has done wrong. We identified that and told the FA and apologised profusely in Lawrence’s defence.

“I’ve said a few times about Lawrence he’s a talented goalkeeper. But you’ve got to have more than that. You’ve got to have a fantastic amount of clean sheets, you’ve got to have respect for everyone and you’ve got to be in a position where you are making a difference.

“We’ve got two steps, maybe three steps forward with Lawrence this season but I certainly won’t be someone who is supporting that kind of ill-discipline after a football match.’’ Town have had brushes with authority in recent seasons, notably in March last year when they and Millwall were fined £15,000 and £5,000 respectively after admitting charges of failing to control their players, action which also brought a warning as to future conduct.

But Flitcroft has made clear he simply won’t stand for that sort of ill-discipline and revealed: “We’ve tried supporting him and mitigating the situation. I’m a big believer in forgiveness and they have listened to Lawrence accept the charge and accept that he’d done wrong and we’ve told them it won’t happen again.

“We’ve made assurances to the FA that that won’t happen again and I think that’s really important.

“I think it’s probably an overspill of the last couple of years where ill-discipline was accepted at the club and it’s something I won’t accept. I don’t think you should have it in your life and you certainly shouldn’t have it in your profession or sport.

“It’s the side of football you can get right. We won an appeal (regarding James Dunne’s red card) last week but this week we weren’t going to appeal it because the four statements of the referees all concurred.

“There were no weaknesses in those statements and they felt as though they had been really disrespected in the players’ tunnel."

Reice Charles-Cook, signed on deadline day, will be between the posts for tomorrow’s trip to Cheltenham, with Will Henry, recently called into the England U20 squad, named on the bench.