“It was high on Ben and it was a red card' - Giannoulis bang to rights for Woodgate

Giannoulis was dismissed for a challenge on Ben Pearson in the 17th minute, after a dominant opening from the newly-promoted Premier League hosts.

That helped trigger a 3-1 second half Cherries’ comeback inspired by Arnaut Danjuma at Carrow Road, to take some of the shine off the Canaries’ top flight elevation.

Daniel Farke berated the officials in the immediate aftermath of the match-defining episode, claiming referee Graham Scott had ‘ruined the game’ but Woodgate saw it differently.

Dimitris Giannoulis was sent off for a foul on Ben Pearson in Norwich City's 3-1 Championship defeat against Bournemouth (Image: Focus Images Limited)

“They can’t have seen it back. It was high on Ben and it was a red card,” he said. “You can’t get away with tackles like that. I don’t think there was a lot of malice to it, I just think it was a little bit late.

“They started off like a house on fire, to be fair. They started really good. You could see they had a spring in their step and were really confident.

“We made a little adjustment to the shape – it was slightly better – and then the tackle happened and it was a red card.

“The referee made a decision to send their man off, which I thought was right. It's difficult at times when teams go down to 10 men because you have really got to break them down.

"It's a really difficult place to come against a really good team that is firing on all cylinders and they deserve to go up. It was a difficult game, Norwich started really well. They didn't have to win the game to get promotion, which was good for them, but they're a talented football team.”

Woodgate has plotted six league wins on the spin as Bournemouth look to build momentum for a play-off tilt.

"We need to keep on going, this league is notoriously difficult and anything can happen,” he said. “We've won six on the spin but we haven't done anything yet - we know where we need to be at the end of the season.

“I can't single out individuals - the team is playing well and there is a good team spirit and the work rate it there

“We knew if we tried to play through the middle of them, they would try to catch us on the counter-attack. They could have been dangerous on the counter-attack but we controlled it well and kept the ball well.

“We made a change at the break. I thought it was important to drop a central midfielder out.

“Sometimes when you have Jeff (Lerma) with a yellow card, the referee can level it up just as quick really.

“It was important to bring Sam (Surridge) on, go with two up top and get the full-backs trying to fly past the wingers – really overload it down the sides and move it quickly.”