Ref justice as Priest pays price for another man's fouls (From Halesowen News)

Ref justice as Priest pays price for another man's fouls

11:30am Thursday 18th October 2012 in Sport

SHANE Priest will be missing from Dudley Sports game at Wolverhampton Sporting Community this Saturday — after being punished for a “crime” he didn’t commit.

The midfielder has been hit with a one match ban thanks to a case of mistaken identity following Sports 2-1 defeat at Pegasus Juniors last month.

Sports had Mark Gore sent off for two bookings late on but instead it was Priest’s name which appeared as the guilty party on the referee’s post-game report.

FA officials say Priest must still serve the suspension, despite the mix-up, with Sports choosing not to appeal after being told video evidence would be required to overturn the decision.

Sports joint-boss Tony Gore said: “Both Mark and Shane went on as substitutes at the same time.

“Mark picked up a yellow card, got another soon after and was sent-off.

“But when we got the referee’s report it had Shane down as being the man who was red carded.

“We’ve queried it with the FA and been told Shane must still serve the ban despite the mistake.

“He’s not very happy about it, as you can imagine.”

Mark Gore was initially booked for a foul which saw Sports concede a penalty and received his second card for kicking the ball away.

Tony Gore added: “To hear we needed video evidence to get it overturned seems a bit ridiculous.

“If that’s the case no club from the Conference down will ever win an appeal as there aren’t exactly many film crews at our games.”

Mike Fellows, discipline manager at the Birmingham FA, said: “The only way they would have been able to appeal was on mistaken identity and video evidence would be required.

“In this case we have to go on what the referee has said. We are governed by rules.”