Newcastle consider appeal against Gordon red card

Eddie Howe will consider appealing against Anthony Gordon’s red card in Newcastle’s FA Cup defeat against Brighton as he tries to stop the England forward missing the League Cup final.

Gordon was dismissed for violent conduct seven minutes from the end of normal time in Sunday’s 2-1 loss at St James’ Park after shoving Jan Paul van Hecke in the head as the pair tussled for the ball.

He faces a three-match ban which will rule him out of the League Cup final against Premier League leaders Liverpool at Wembley on March 16.

Asked if he could appeal Newcastle boss Howe said: “Of course. If we analyse the incident and feel there’s grounds for that, we will do without hesitation.

“I’d need to see it, I can’t sit here and give an honest opinion to that until I’ve done the work that you’ve done and looked at it. But knowing the player, I know there’s no malice intended there.

“He plays hard. I want him to play hard, I want him to be competitive, but I don’t see an issue there at this moment.

“I think it would be very out of context with how he is generally, maybe a bit of frustration in the game that things weren’t going our way, but I’d say that’s not a common sight for me when Anthony plays.”

Newcastle looked to be on their way to a fifth round victory when Alexander Isak converted a 22nd-minute penalty awarded for Yankuba Minteh’s foul on Tino Livramento.

But Minteh, who left Newcastle for Brighton last year, made amends with the equaliser just before half-time.

Gordon’s dismissal was followed in stoppage time by Brighton defender Tariq Lamptey being sent off for a second yellow card.

Brighton substitute Danny Welbeck settled the tie six minutes from the end of extra-time.

Seagulls boss Fabian Hurzeler was delighted with his team’s fightback as they look to reach the FA Cup final for the first time since 1983.

“Not only the character, also the performance was quite impressive. Of course we had some setbacks during the game, but we reacted always in a very special way,” he said.

“We stayed very calm, we found a good balance between defensive stability and controlling the game in possession.

“Then we had, of course, some phases of the game where we had to suffer, but in the end, we did it in quite an impressive way. 

“We always stayed together, we always found the right solution on the behaviour of Newcastle and therefore I’m really pleased with the character, but also the performance.”