Black Cats will consider appeal over Loovens red

JACK Ross believes Glenn Loovens can feel hard done by after being sent off at Portsmouth - and has not ruled out appealing the decision.

Loovens was dismissed and a penalty given when Oli Hawkins got goal-side of him and then went down in a tangle of legs when the pair collided.

Referee Peter Bankes decided - rightly - that Loovens had denied a goalscoring opportunity, but then had to decide whether the defender had made a genuine attempt to play the ball, which determines whether it was a yellow card or a red card offence.

He opted for red, and that changed the game as Sunderland had to play for almost 45 minutes a man light.

Ross said: “The flow of the whole game changes with the red card decision because I thought we were good prior to that.

“Away from home, in this environment, we controlled the first half and we had a group in there at half-time that believed they could go on in the second half and win.

“We were playing against a team that is top of the league, in their own stadium, so when you go down to ten men, it’s always going to have an impact.

“I get the benefit of watching incident again, which I know the officials don’t, but I would argue that the red card shouldn’t have been a red card under the new guidelines.

“There was no genuine attempt to win the ball but there was no attempt to bring him [Hawkins] down - it was a coming together and it was a penalty kick.”

Unless Sunderland make a successful appeal, Loovens will serve a one-match ban which will rule him out of the Boxing Day game against Bradford City at the Stadium of Light.

Asked whether the club will appeal, Ross says he will study the rules to see whether there is a realistic prospect of success.

He said: “I don’t know. I probably need to clarify the exact wording of the rules to determine how it is looked upon. I know the rules have changed to avoid double jeopardy.

“At the time, I couldn’t see clearly and I thought he must have pulled him back but watching it again, Hawkins comes across him and their legs catch each other.

“My understanding is that it isn’t a red card, but I don’t know the exact wording so that will have a bearing on what we decide to do.”