England footballer Ashley Cole, a team-mate of John Terry, thought he heard Anton Ferdinand shout words of abuse to the Chelsea captain during a heated pitch exchange, he told a court.

The 31-year-old Chelsea left-back said that as Ferdinand made a fist-pump gesture he heard him shout "Bridgey or black" and "cunt", he told Westminster magistrates court.

"I can't make out – him either saying Bridgey or black."

Terry, 31, denies a racially aggravated public order offence, saying he was sarcastically repeating back an accusation that he thought Ferdinand had made to him.

Cole, a reluctant witness, said he did not think the case should have reached court. "I think we shouldn't be sitting here," he said, from the witness box where he had been summoned as a defence witness.

He was "close friends" with his team-mate Terry, and had known Ferdinand and his brother Rio, and their family, "for a long time", he said.

Racism should never be tolerated, he said. But repeating what you thought someone said was "completely different". He said while he saw Ferdinand gesture and shout, he could not hear what Terry said, as he was "about a car length" away from him.

The court has heard the fist-pump gesture was a reference to Terry's alleged affair with the ex-girlfriend of former team-mate Wayne Bridge.

During the game, and after the alleged race-abuse incident, Cole said Terry spoke to him about Ferdinand. "He said: 'He thinks I'm being racist', or something along them lines," Cole told the court.

After the match, Terry asked Ferdinand to come to the Chelsea dressing room and Cole heard Terry ask the QPR defender what had happened.

"I think John said" 'Did you think I called you a black cunt, did you think I was bring racist?'

"Then I said: 'Did you think John was being racist?'. Anton said: 'no, no.'."

The two players then shook hands.

Asked about Terry, Cole described him as an "inspirational captain", and "cool, calm and collected" who did not rise to taunts on the pitch. Of the abuse Terry received over an alleged affair, Cole said he had had "the same said" to him, and they used to "laugh about it".

Cole said he had not wanted to become involved, but the FA summoned him to make a statement, which they drew up after he requested it be a "neutral statement".

Terry is accused of calling Ferdinand "a fucking black cunt" during the Premier League game at Loftus Road on 23 October 2011, which was televised by Sky and watched by more than 2 million viewers.

A complaint of racism was made by an off-duty police officer watching the game on television.