EWOOD enforcer Garry Flitcroft today pleaded his innocence after seeing red against Sheffield Wednesday last night.
Flitcroft is in danger of missing Rovers' big day at Cardiff following his sending off in last night's semi-final second leg and today said he intends to appeal.
"I got a copy of the video last night and I must have watched it 10 or 20 times when I got home.
"And although I did lunge in I won the ball and he tripped over me after that.
"So I am definitely appealing against it and I'll speak to the gaffer about that tomorrow.
"I watched Aston Villa against Charlton the other night and Villa defender Samuel made a similar two-footed tackle on Luke Young and never even got booked for it.
"I just think it looked worse because of the way the Wednesday players reacted.
"I would be absolutely gutted if I was ruled out of the final. As captain of this club this is a chance to lift some silverware at the Millennium Stadium and I have been looking forward to doing something like that for most of my career.
"But I am not too worried about it at this stage because I know I definitely won the ball so I'll just have to wait and see what happens."
Flitcroft's dismissal in the 53rd minute for a two-footed challenge on Trond Soltvedt marred Rovers' 6-3 aggregate win over Sheffield Wednesday.
But manager Graeme Souness said: "From where I was he did launch himself and if you do that and make contact, the chances are you're in trouble.
"He maintains that he got the ball but I've not seen it again on video yet so I'll reserve judgement. But Garry's already talking about appealing because he felt he did make contact with the ball, even though he threw himself into the challenge."
If Flitcroft fails to get that decision overturned then he's almost certain to miss out on an appearance at the Millennium Stadium, unless Rovers draw with Millwall in the FA Cup on Saturday and then win the replay.
And Souness feels partly responsible for the fact his skipper faces a three-match ban.
"I'm partly to blame because I'd said to the players at half-time 'You've got yourselves into a brilliant position so make sure you meet that challenge head on'," said Souness.
"And Garry is one of those people who is always going to stand up and be counted in anybody's company so maybe I'm guilty of getting him sent off. As the captain, he sees it as part of his responsibility to be the one carrying the flag at times and I can sympathise with him on that.
"He maybe felt at the time 'I'll put a few tackles in and try and quieten the game down.
"So we'll have a look at the video and see if we've got a case for appealing."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article