Luton may appeal Hylton's red card

Hatters boss Nathan Jones may chose to appeal Danny Hylton's red card that he picked up against Rochdale yesterday.
Hatters striker Danny Hylton was sent off against RochdaleHatters striker Danny Hylton was sent off against Rochdale
Hatters striker Danny Hylton was sent off against Rochdale

The Town striker was sent off by referee Ollie Yates in the 76th minute for a lunging challenge on Ian Henderson, the fourth dismissal of his Luton career.

However, Jones may ask the FA to rescind the decision, saying: “I’ve had a look at it back, it’s not really conclusive.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“The referee made his mind up really, really quickly, he said it was a straight leg over the ball, it wasn’t, it was a straight leg but he actually got the ball, it’s just obviously there were studs up.

“Whether it was reckless, or maybe a yellow would have sufficed, we’ll have a really good look at it and then if there’s grounds for appeal we will, but I wish we weren’t in that situation.

“It’s impulse, it’s not a malicious one or anything, he hasn’t gone and two-footed him or anything, it’s just come off him and he’s gone with straight leg with studs up.

“He hasn’t actually caught the player, he’s caught the ball, it looks reckless and when their players come rushing in, which you expect, that makes the referee’s mind up, he made a very, very quick decision, so we’ll see.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Hylton’s disciplinary record had improved this term, the former Oxford striker not even booked in his previous eight matches.

However, Jones wasn’t overly critical of the tackle this time, saying: “It’s not something that’s been petulant or stupid, it’s the challenge.

"It can happen, it’s one of those things and in today’s environment, sometimes they’re very quick to bring out the red.

“Years ago, that might not have been the red, we might still have grounds for appeal, so it’s not the worst thing in the world.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I’d be more disappointed with certain ones when he’s picked up two yellows, when he’s on a yellow and done something stupid,

“It’s just part and parcel of the game, we’ll see.

“We’ll have a good look at it as the angle we’ve got is a decent angle, but we’ll probably need a little bit league footage as that will give us a little bit more of a zoom so we’ll wait for that.”

Goalkeeper James Shea said of the incident: “I see him take a touch and then see him going in for a tackle.

“I don’t know what happened then, you see the referee pull the red card out and you’re fearing the worst.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“But we dug in and just hung in there at the end and headed the ball away from the goal, rode our luck a little bit and thankfully the referee’s blown the whistle and we got a point.”

Centre half Matty Pearson wasn’t best positioned to see the challenge, saying: “Not really, I was in defence at that time, I didn’t really see a good view of it, so I can’t really comment.

“From what I’m hearing, it wasn’t the best of tackles, we’ll have to wait and see.”

Meanwhile, Jones knew that with Hylton’s exit went his side’s realistic aims of sneaking a late victory.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He added: “As the game went on, we were probably coming into it in terms of counter attacks, then we made changes to really go on the counter attack, so that kind of killed that and we just had to see the game out.

“It was disappointing, one for today as that probably ended our opportunities to win the game and obviously we could be without a player for three games.”