• Premier League

Villa to launch appeal against Herd red

ESPN staff
October 24, 2011
Chris Herd is shown a red card by Phil Dowd © PA Photos
Enlarge

Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish has confirmed the club will appeal Chris Herd's sending-off against West Brom on Saturday, insisting there is 'no doubt' the officials made the wrong decision.

Villa, who went on to lose 2-1 having taken an early lead at Villa Park, were reduced to 10 men midway through the first half when Herd was shown a straight red card by Phil Dowd for an off-the-ball incident with Jonas Olsson.

Referee Dowd consulted his assistant Darren Cann before giving Herd his marching orders - a decision which was clearly wrong, according to McLeish.

When asked whether Villa would appeal Herd's red card, he said: "Absolutely. We don't think there's any doubt about it. Looking at all the pictures again, Chris has done nothing wrong, it's a poor decision on the day by the official. These things are not deliberate; he's made an honest mistake. I just think it's a shame he's guessed the decision rather than seeing anything."

During the Premier League encounter, Baggies striker Shane Long was forced to limp off after injuring his knee in a tackle by Alan Hutton. West Brom manager Roy Hodgson subsequently labelled the challenge, which could sideline Long for an extensive period, "appalling" but McLeish holds a different view.

"It always gets highlighted when a player gets injured but there's going to be collisions," he said. "Hutton was probably not the favourite to get the ball when Shane was still upright. But he slipped for the ball, he threw his body at it and unfortunately the momentum, the collision has left Shane injured and hopefully it's not too bad."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Close

ABOUT COOKIES

To help make this website better, to improve and personalize your experience and for advertising purposes, are you happy to accept cookies and other technologies.

More Info Here Cookie Choices