Burnley midfielder Marney wins red card appeal

Marney was dismissed by referee Darren Drysdale for a tackle on City left back Paul Robinson just after the hour, with the game level at 1-1.

Birmingham went on to take advantage of their extra man, winning 2-1 in injury time.

However, Marney, who was facing a three-match ban, will now be eligible to face Peterborough United, Bolton Wanderers and Middlesbrough.

Boss Sean Dyche was perplexed after the game at Drysdale’s decision - deeming Marney had used “excessive force”, and said: “I was surprised to see someone go off the pitch.

“It had a massive affect on the game when I think we were beginning to control it.

“The angle I had was one where one of our men tackles the ball and gets sent off for it.

“It was the same thing in the first half with the same player, makes a fantastic tackle and gets pulled up for it.

“It was for excessive force apparently, so I think you’ve got to tackle softly now.

“You could hear by the reaction of the crowd, they loved it. Not in a vicious way or a silly way, but you cannot take a great tackle like that out of the game because it will kill football.

“We want the beauty of football – all managers out there want to play the beautiful game. We all want to try to be a version of Barcelona and Manchester United and Chelsea, but you can’t take away tackling, you can’t take away the nature of good strong tackles. It’s what fans buzz off and it’s part of the beautiful game.

“For the greater good of football you can’t be getting sent off for making great tackles by that.

“I’ll be looking for answers from the Referees’ Association on that one because I just can’t work it out.

“I always try to make it clear the three toughest jobs in football are the two managers and the referee.

“I’ve got no problem with referees, but it’s hard to not have a problem with that performance.”

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