Foster and Mousinho red card appeals turned down

GRAHAM WESTLEY says he was surprised the FA rejected Stevenage’s appeal to rescind the red cards Luke Foster and John Mousinho received at Northampton last Saturday.

The club submitted still images of both incidents to the governing body hoping they would overturn the referee’s decision and allow the pair to be available for Saturday’s clash with Bury and any subsequent play-off matches.

However the FA disregarded Boro’s appeal on the grounds they didn’t provide any additional evidence to suggest referee Paul Tierney got his decisions wrong.

As it stands, Luke Foster will serve a four-match suspension after already receiving a red card against Burton Albion back in October, while Mousinho will serve a three-match ban.

Nevertheless, the Boro boss is confident in the strength and depth of his squad and its ability to overcome enforced absences.

“We were surprised, I have to say,” said Westley.

“The decision happened on the day and anyone can make a mistake. We appealed them thinking that certainly that Foz (Foster) would be available but the appeals were turned down and both will be unavailable.

“We’ve been good at that haven’t we (coping without key players). It’s the strength of this squad that everybody stays ready to do their job and when one man falls another comes in and picks up the pieces, so it’s never a big issue to us dealing without players.

“We always work on the basis that we could always be without anybody – we’re not one-man dependant – it’s not as if we’re Barcelona relying on Lionel Messi, we’re Stevenage, and we rely on our unity and togetherness and lots of those types of characteristics.”

* Click on the GALLERY link at the top right of this page to view the still images.