Defeated Mowbray laments red card

Last updated : 24 April 2007 By Danny Deeming
West Brom manager Tony Mowbray felt Paul McShane's sending off was the key moment in his side's 3-2 defeat at Burnley on Monday night.The defender was red-carded on the stroke of half-time by referee Mike Jones after missing a header and making contact with Clarets midfielder James O'Connor. Mowbray's side were 2-1 up at the time but Chris McCann's header three minutes from time won it for Burnley and leaves the Baggies, who are fifth in the Championship, just a point above ninth-placed Colchester. The West Brom boss intends to appeal and said: "The sending off was disappointing because if you know McShane, there isn't a player with more honesty in the game. I'm pretty sure he was only watching the ball and intending to head the ball like he does every day in training. There would have been no malice about it. I would think we'll appeal. He hasn't got a bad bone in his body. It's part of the referee's job to know who has got a nasty streak in them and who is capable of wanting to hurt someone and McShane's not that sort of lad."
The Baggies raced into an early lead with Jason Koumas and Nathan Ellington each scoring inside seven minutes, but Andy Gray pulled one back and equalised just after the restart before McCann headed in the last-gasp winner. Mowbray added: "There was an inability to defend the box but there were mitigating circumstances. We've got no Curtis Davies or Neil Clement and no Sam Sodje or Paul McShane so that's four centre-halves missing and that's the reason we didn't defend the box well. We've got to move on now and try to win the last two games. We were in control of the whole match. "Gray's first was a ridiculous goal we conceded and we've been told he was marginally offside. I would have liked think we'd have gone on and won the game comfortably but we'll never know."
Opposite number Steve Cotterill confirmed O'Connor was set to spend the night in hospital for observation, having been out cold for two to three minutes. The Clarets boss will support West Brom's appeal if he feels video evidence shows McShane should not have been red-carded.