FORMER Arsenal defender Carl Jenkinson has cited a linesman's reluctance to send him off as a sliding doors moment in his career.

The right-back, 31, made 70 appearances for the Gunners and won the FA Cup under Arsene Wenger back in 2014.

He went on to feature for the likes of West Ham, Birmingham and Nottingham Forest.

And he now plies his trade with the Newcastle Jets in Australia.

However, it was at Charlton where he broke through as a teenager in League One.

But things could have worked out very differently had he been shown a red card on his first-team debut for the club.

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Jenkinson came on in the 86th minute away at Hartlepool, only to fly into a tackle and narrowly avoid being given his marching orders.

Speaking to The Athletic, he said: "I have a linesman to thank. I was a very, very enthusiastic full-back wanting to put my mark on the game and the first thing I did was fly into a tackle.

"It looked worse than it was but there was a big kerfuffle after, everyone gathering round, and a few of their boys going, ‘That’s a red card! Get him off!’

"I remember thinking, ‘F***! What’ve I done here?’"

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"I was stood over by the linesman and like a shot he went, ‘Don’t worry son, I’ll tell him it’s just a yellow’. I looked at him like, ‘Thank you!’

"I don’t know whether he saw a young boy, no facial hair, bit overenthusiastic, but whatever it was — the referee went over to him, he said what he said, and he gave me a yellow card.

"I got a run of games after that because the first-choice full-back got injured. If I’d got a straight red there, I would have missed three games; I might never have got my chance.

"You look back sometimes and think your life could be very different."

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