Cats able to switch the Power back on
MAX Power has won his appeal against the red card he received at Walsall - meaning he will be available to line up for Sunderland against promotion rivals Barnsley tonight.
The midfielder was facing the prospect of a five-match ban after seeing red for the third time this season.
However, manager Jack Ross was adamant Power was unfairly treated when he was dismissed for serious foul play following a challenge on Liam Kinsella midway through the first half and immediately confirmed the club would appeal.
A Regulatory Commission heard the appeal and decided to overturn the ban, which means Power can play against the Tykes at the Stadium of Light.
Ross said: “I am genuinely most pleased for Max to begin with.
“I have been so pleased with him since he came to the club, with, what he brings us.
“It would have been a big thing for him to carry.
“I am delighted for him, first of all. Thereafter, I am pleased from my own point of view to have him available.”
The red card had divided opinion even among Sunderland fans, some taking to social media in the aftermath of the game to say it was the right decision and others just as convinced it was incorrect.
The successful appeal vindicates Ross’ view and he says this dismissal
I am pleased for Max. I have been so pleased with him since he came to the club, with what he brings us Jack Ross
should not be held against Power, although he admits the player must learn from the experience and make sure he does not find himself in a similar position in future. He added: “I did not want him to be tarnished with it because it was unjust.
“I am grateful to those from the FA who have looked at it that they have seen it in the same light. “The learning point for Max is the situations he finds himself in a game.
“We have to manage that properly because we don’t want to be in that position again this season. “In the aftermath of something like that you get a lot of criticism and it is not deserved, people say things in the heat of the moment.
“He has had to take a bit of stick I would imagine. He is a strong character but I know he is entirely determined to succeed here.
“I imagine it will just give him that extra motivation to prove what he can bring to the club.”
Power was also sent off against Oxford United at the Stadium of Light at the beginning of September but Sunderland’s appeal against that red card was rejected and he served a three-game ban.
He was then sent off at Bradford City last month and Sunderland did not attempt to overturn that dismissal with Ross accepting it was justified - and that led to a fourmatch ban as it was his second red card of the season.
While the five-match ban he would have faced for a third red card has now been cancelled, the sending-off itself remains on his record and Power is still the first Sunderland player to be dismissed three times in a season.
■ DYLAN McGeouch will sit out Sunderland’s game against promotion rivals Barnsley after suffering an injury while doing extra training.
The midfielder was also absent for the Black Cats’ 2-2 weekend draw at Walsall.
“It’s a muscular injury,” Ross said of McGeouch.
“He did it last week doing a bit of extra training.
“He and two of the other boys came in - Dylan was going to stay in the gym but he went out on to the grass and that is when it happened.
“He came in and did a bit of work but he is not ready, he is still out.”