Huddersfield Town unsuccessful in Alfie May red card appeal
The centre-forward's straight red card against Luton has been upheld by the FA
Alfie May will serve a four-match league suspension after Huddersfield Town’s appeal against the red card he received against Luton was unsuccessful.
Town did not dispute that the forward had pulled Kasey Palmer’s hair, but put forward the case that it was unintentional and thus should not be considered violent conduct.
Head coach Liam Manning said at Wednesday’s press conference: “Speaking with Alfie and when you see it, we’re not questioning whether he pulled Kasey Palmer’s hair, but there was zero intent, it’s completely accidental.
“If you watch the video back, quite clearly, he’s trying to grab his shoulder and pull him back, which is part of football, the contact that comes with playing the game.
“But unfortunately, he’s grabbed it, he’s let go of it straight away, and then apologised afterwards, but I think he was put down with violent conduct. It was definitely not that.”
However, the FA regulatory panel has rejected that line of argument and upheld the red card.
The usual punishment for the offence would be a three-match ban, but May receives an extra game thanks to it being his second straight red card of the season. He is now set to miss Town’s upcoming League One games against Peterborough, Blackpool, Stevenage and Doncaster.
May is however eligible to appear in the Vertu Trophy and could be selected to face Doncaster in that competition a week on Tuesday.
The 32 year old received his marching orders for a dangerous tackle against Wycombe in October — the first red card of his career — and received a three-game sentence for that dismissal.
Town could also be without fellow striker Bojan Radulovic against Peterborough on Saturday afternoon after he went off with a hamstring injury moments before May’s dismissal against Luton.
Manning was unable to give any indication of the seriousness of Radulovic’s injury on Wednesday afternoon as he was yet to have a scan to assess the extent of the issue.
If Radulovic is also ruled out alongside May, it would leave Dion Charles as Town’s only available senior centre-forward.