Sunderland to appeal Wes Brown's red card against Manchester United

SUNDERLAND will appeal Wes Brown's controversial red card in Saturday's defeat to Manchester United.

15:05, Sun, Mar 1, 2015 | UPDATED: 15:21, Sun, Mar 1, 2015

Sunderland will appeal Wes Brown's red card against Manchester United ACTION

Sunderland will appeal Wes Brown's red card against Manchester United

Referee Roger East dismissed Brown thinking he fouled Radamel Falcao in the box when replays showed John O'Shea should have been sent off.

While Brown was on the scene he didn't actually make any contact with the United player.

Wayne Rooney scored the resulting penalty to break the deadlock.

And the Black Cats have confirmed their intention to appeal the decision.

"SAFC has confirmed that it will appeal the red card given to Wes Brown in yesterday's Barclays Premier League game against Manchester United at Old Trafford," they said in a statement.

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SAFC has confirmed that it will appeal the red card given to Wes Brown
Sunderland statement

"The club has until 1pm tomorrow (Monday) to lodge its appeal with the FA."

However, the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) released a statement after the match insisting it was not a case of mistaken identity and East did in fact mean to send Brown off.

East believed he saw contact from O'Shea and Brown on Falcao and sent off the latter as in his view Brown's foul had been the crucial one, the statement said.

East came in for fierce criticism on social media and in match reports in the wake of the incident, the latest decision to come under scrutiny following a series of controversial calls in recent weeks.

Sunderland boss Gus Poyet was also critical of the decision when asked about it after the match and the club have now opted to try and get Brown's three-match ban overturned.