West Bromwich Albion says it will not appeal against the red card incident during Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at Manchester City.
Gareth McAuley was wrongly sent off instead of Craig Dawson, who had brought down Wilfried Bony at the edge of the goal area while the Ivorian striker was closing in on the Baggies goal.
Following referee Neil Swarbrick’s admission that he sent off the wrong man, the Football Association are expected to switch the card from McAuley to Dawson.
Dawson will hence serve an automatic one-match suspension and miss the Premier League game at home to Queens Park Rangers on 4 April.
West Brom manager, Tony Pulis, speaking after the defeat at the Etihad Stadium, called for the introduction of video technology in league matches.
“I watched the Wolves v Derby game and there was a similar incident in that game where the referee didn’t book the player so there are inconsistences,” said Pulis.
“But once the referee decides there is a goal scoring opportunity and decides he has to send him off then I don’t know how he can send off the wrong player.
“This Premier League product is one of the most famous products we sell. It’s no good moaning about referees but we need to find a way of helping them.
“We need a video link up where someone can watch key decisions again and help to make decisions – we can hopefully eradicate mistakes.”
His views were supported by head of the Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (the Premier League referees’ association), Mike Riley, who opined that Swarbrick’s error was down to having to make a split second judgment.
“Technology doesn’t provide a solution to everything but we can all think of case where a quick reference to a video replay would help us get the decision right,” Riley told the BBC Radio 5 Live’s Sportsweek bulletin.
Arsenal’s Kieran Gibbs was erroneously sent off for a handball by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in a league game at Chelsea last season.
Saturday’s incident is the second case involving the sending off of a wrong player in the Premier League in three weeks, after Wes Brown received a red card intended for his Sunderland team-mate, John O’Shea, at Manchester United last month.
Pulis added: “This Premier League product is one of the most famous products we sell. It’s no good moaning about referees but we need to find a way of helping them.
“We need a video link up where someone can watch key decisions again and help to make decisions – we can hopefully eradicate mistakes.”
