Sunderland defender Dan Ballard was dismissed for a hair pull against Wolves last weekend.

Former Sunderland striker Kevin Phillips has delivered his verdict on Dan Ballard’s sending off against Wolves last weekend, suggesting that while his pull on Tolu Arokodare was accidental, the defender still “had to go”.

A VAR review ultimately led to Ballard’s dismissal after he was adjudged to have grabbed his opponent’s hair during a tussle for the ball, and with the Black Cats down to 10 men, they would eventually have to settle for a sharing of the spoils in a 1-1 draw at Molineux.

Since then, Sunderland have appealed the red card. As it stands, the 26-year-old is facing a three-game suspension that, if upheld, would signify the end of his Premier League campaign. The Black Cats are adamant, however, that the act was unintentional and that the defender is not guilty of violent conduct.

What has Kevin Phillips said about Dan Ballard’s red card against Wolves?

And while Phillips agrees with that viewpoint, he is still of the belief that Ballard had to walk in the West Midlands. Speaking exclusively to The Echo, courtesy of BestBettingSites, he said: “It's a tough one, isn't it? Because I don't believe for one minute that Dan Ballard deliberately pulled the lad's hair. We all know the implications. If you do that with the amount of cameras, the laws, you're going to get sent off. So I don't think he would have been that silly.

“I think it was just a natural coming together. His hands were there, and unfortunately it happened. And the law being the law, he had to go. So really disappointing, obviously, for Dan, having not long come back from injury.”

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