MILLWALL have lodged an appeal to overturn Zak Sturge’s red card against Blackburn Rovers, NewsAtDen understands.
Yuki Ohashi pounced on Ryoya Morishita’s flick on and looked to be through on goal when he went down under pressure from Sturge, with Jake Cooper covering.
Referee Andrew Kitchen initially allowed play to continue before giving Sturge his marching orders.
Blackburn then went on to overturn a one-goal deficit to win 2-1, courtesy of a late brace from Mathias Jorgensen.
Sturge is currently suspended for one game, Millwall’s trip to Ipswich Town on Saturday, with the club submitting an appeal to have it overturned.
The 24-year-old was sent off for a denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity, governed by Law 12 of the IFAB Laws of the Game.
Per the rules, the following must be considered:
•distance between the offence and the goal
•general direction of the play
•likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball
•location and number of defenders.
The FA handbook outlines the appeals process:
“The Player or their Club must submit their claim, along with the evidence upon which their claim is founded (which must include video footage showing the incident from all available angles), to The Association by email (as directed by The Association).
Relatedarticles
“The Association will convene a Regulatory Commission to examine the claim, which shall consider the matter prior to any suspension being served.
“After considering the evidence, the Regulatory Commission will decide whether the claim is rejected or is successful. A claim will only be successful where the Regulatory Commission is satisfied that the Referee made an obvious error in dismissing the Player.”
The commission will also consider “the Referee’s report, reports from any other Match Official and any other evidence supporting the Referee’s action”. If the commission believes the claim has ‘no prospect of success’, it can increase the sanction up to twice the standard punishment.
A decision is expected before Saturday’s trip to Portman Road.
