MILLWALL have filed an appeal to overturn Zak Sturge’s red card against Blackburn Rovers, NewsAtDen understands.
Yuki Ohashi pounced on Ryoya Morishita’s flick-on and appeared to be through on goal when he collapsed under pressure from Sturge, with Jake Cooper covering.
Referee Andrew Kitchen initially permitted play to continue before issuing Sturge’s marching orders.
Blackburn then recovered from a one-goal deficit to win 2-1, thanks to a late brace from Mathias Jorgensen.
Sturge is currently suspended for one game, Millwall’s trip to Ipswich Town on Saturday, and the club has filed an appeal to get the decision overturned.
The 24-year-old was sent off for denying an evident goal-scoring opportunity, as per Law 12 of the IFAB Laws of the Game.
According to the guidelines, the following must be considered:
•?Distance between offense and goal
•?General direction of the play
•?The possibility of retaining or gaining control of the ball
• The position and number of defenders.
The FA handbook describes the appeals process:
“The Player or their Club must submit their claim, along with the documentation supporting their claim (including video footage of the occurrence from all accessible angles), to The Association by email (as directed by The Association).
“The Association will assemble a Regulatory Commission to investigate the claim, which will review the case before any suspension is imposed.
“After evaluating the facts, the Regulatory Commission will determine whether the claim is rejected or successful. A claim will only be successful if the Regulatory Commission determines that the Referee made an evident error in dismissing the Player.”
The commission will also take into account “the Referee’s report, reports from any other Match Official, and any other evidence supporting the Referee’s action”. If the commission finds the claim has “no prospect of success,” the sanction might be increased to twice the ordinary punishment.
A decision is likely before Saturday’s visit to Portman Road.
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