Newport County midfielder Gareth Phillips was yesterday hit with a three-game ban after making an abusive remark to a mixed race player - but the 24-year-old responded by saying: "I know I'm not a racist."

Phillips was sent off in the Dr Martens League match at Cambridge City for calling rival player Carl Williams a "monkey" - but he insists the remark was taken out of context.

He said: "I know that the remark could be perceived as racial but I can promise that it was not intended that way.

"I apologised to the player after the game and explained that there was no racial intention in what I said.

"Everyone who knows me, my family and friends all know that I am not a racist person. I knew straight away that it would be perceived as racist and I regretted it straight away. I am still regretting it now and have been feeling really down about it.

"It is not nice to be thought of as a racist." Phillips added: "That is my main regret, that people think I am a racist person. It is quite hurtful for people to think that."

Phillips will now have to sit out Coun-ty's next three matches, starting with the visit to Chippenham to-morrow, then Grantham at home next Saturday followed by the Gwent Senior Cup trip to Tillery (rescheduled for February 11).

He said: "I will have to speak to the management to see what the next step is. A three-match ban is a heavy price to pay for something that was unintentional.

"I would like to appeal but I don't know how that would work. Hopefully, something can be sorted soon and I can get on with playing football."

The midfielder could be disciplined by the club for the sending off but Newport insist that the matter will be resolved behind closed doors.

County chairman Wall-ace Brown said: "We have a system of discipline that will be applied but we look at every case on it's merits. The matter will be discussed internally in due course."

Cambridge City have no plans of taking any further action over the matter.

Chief executive Arthur Eastham said: "As far as the club are concerned the incident is over.

"I spoke to the referee and the linesman and they have said that their player (Gareth Phillips) called Carl Williams a name and that it would be included in his report because it was a racist remark.

"I think our lad was not happy about it but I understand that in the bar afterwards he offered him an apology."

Eastham said that he had no intention of taking any action against County He said: "I have no axe to grind with Newport County. I do not know the player that well, so I do not know if it was out of character.

"As far as Cambridge City are concerned the matter is over and we'll leave it to the laws of the game to deal with it."