Burnley FC to appeal Clarke Carlisle’s red card

The Clarets saw Carlisle controversially sent off after seven minutes in the 1-1 draw at Millwall on Saturday, while centre back partner Bikey departed six minutes later with damaged ribs.

Michael Duff and Leon Cort performed manfully in their absence, but Brian Laws is eager to have the duo who had kept four successive clean sheets - and six in total so far this season - ahead of the trip to The Den, to select from at Bramall Lane.

The club have decided to contest Carlisle’s red card, which looked harsh at the time, and, retrospectively, looks even more ridiculous on repeat viewing, and Bikey has merely suffered bruising to his ribs, and has linked up with Cameroon for the Indomitable Lions’ African Nations Cup qualifier with DR Congo in Garoua on Saturday.

Burnley hope to hear favourable news on Carlisle’s appeal by the end of the week, and while there is a risk of an extra game being tagged on to what would be a three-match suspension should it be deemed a frivolous appeal, Laws said: “We are obviously disappointed, and having analysed it we feel it is harsh.

“Therefore we feel there is an element of doubt, and we feel we have to move forward by appealing against a three-match ban.

“We are aware of the need to be sure about such an appeal, but we feel strongly enough that there is a case to overturn the decision.

“The referee has had a look at it and still feels he made the right decision.

“However, we have to hope that the professionals on the panel see that there was no element of danger to the opponent and that it was simply mis-timed.”

Laws had suggested if referee Keith Stroud was willing to admit he was wrong, the club would appeal, but has gone ahead any way, despite the Hampshire official backing his original judgement, Burnley decided to proceed.

Laws said immediately after the game: “We’ve got to take a stern look at it and if we make a decision to go with it we’ve got to go with it.

“The FA are stamping down because they don’t want frivolous appeals, but what is frivolous in football? I don’t know. It’s difficult to gauge.

“I’ve asked the referee to have a look at it again, and maybe he might give us a guide towards it. Hopefully he’ll reflect on it and if he suggests it might be a bit harsh and warrants a yellow, then we might go ahead and take the risk. But certainly I don’t want to risk losing him for four games.”

Arguably, the challenge didn’t even warrant a yellow card, as Carlisle slipped, with the ball going through his legs, and Millwall’s Theo Robinson hurdled the Clarets skipper.

A red card looked hugely disproportionate for the incident, and Burnley, who received backing on Sky’s Goals on Sunday programme from Chris Kamara and Ray Parlour, will hope to find a similar opinion from the panel.

Bikey, meanwhile, came off in some discomfort after a shove in the back from Millwall striker Steve Morison, which led to him hurting a rib.

The Cameroon international went to a local hospital for an instant appraisal, and, thankfully, it was found he had not cracked his rib, and he was free to link up with Javier Clemente’s squad.

Laws said: “We kept Andre down in London for X-rays on his damaged rib.

“It has come back as just bruising, which is good news.

“Andre will still go to Cameroon on international duty, but we hope he should be fit and well for our next league game against Sheffield United.”

Joining Bikey on international duty this week is Chris Iwelumo with Scotland, Jack Cork with England’s Under 21s, and David Edgar with Canada.