Allardyce acknowledged that his player was in the wrong for raising his hands towards an opponent but also slammed the actions of the Arsenal keeper Lehmann following his reaction to the ninth minute incident which untimately cost the Trotters a place in the Semi Finals.
"As always you can't lift your hands whether you don't hit them or only slight touch them. The goalkeeper's made a meal of it and used gamesmanship to get him sent off - but the referee had no choice.
"Lehmann went over to intimidate him - he had no need to do that - and El-Hadji has reacted. You've got to be able to control yourself in these situations and the only way you should react is to play your normal game. El-Hadji's normal game destroyed Arsenal here last time but unfortunately he's not had the opportunity to do it.
"The sad thing is we got Arsenal on a good time because they were fatigued by Wednesday night's game. At ten men we gave their 11 men a hell of a game which says something about our men. It's the way we've gone out that disappoints me."
Bolton must now concentrate on their remaining league programme which will see games against Champions elect Chelsea and fellow European chasers Liverpool, Everton and Charlton Athletic.