Sunderland have been weighing up their options after Dan Ballard was shown a red card for violent conduct

Sunderland have submitted an appeal after Dan Ballard was shown a red card for violent conduct at Molineux on Saturday.

The Black Cats were leading 1-0 when referee Paul Tierney was advised by the VAR officials to check his monitor. Tierney ruled that Ballard has 'clearly' pulled the hair of Wolves striker Tolu Arokodare and dismissed the Sunderland defender.

As it stands, Ballard is facing a three-game suspension that means his Premier League campaign is over. However, Sunderland are adamant that the act was unintentional and that the defender is not guilty of violent conduct. Having taken some time to consider their options, they have decided to pursue an appeal.

The FA will now consider the appeal and a panel will decide whether or not to uphold or overturn the original decision. They have the option to uphold the decision but reduce Ballard's ban if they feel the punishment is excessive and the act does not warrant a three-game ban, or extend it if they feel the appeal is frivolous.

In the immediate aftermath of the game, head coach Régis Le Bris said the club would consider an appeal and that a three-game ban was harsh.

"We'll have a conversation with Flo," Le Bris said.

"I think we don't want to be controversial - we are here to help the game and to help the Premier League.

"Many people are watching the Premier League. We want to be clean in our behaviours but at the same time, football is football, so you have to create the rules to make it clean for the footballers as well. I think when it's not intentional, it was an accident, it's hard to execute the rules like it was intentional. Sometimes handball is the same, there is always a grey area, and probably with this rule, we are at that stage where you have to manage the rules to make it clean for different situations.

"Paul Tierney is a great referee but the execution of the rule is hard," he added.

"It's really hard to digest because I don't think it was an intentional and violent conduct. It was a duel in the air with a tall striker, 1.9 metres plus, 100 kilos more or less. Ballard is massive as well... 20 times in the game [they duel] many things can happen but it wasn't intentional. If the rule is the rule, probably when you face a striker with long hair, you'll have problems because you can't defend. It was more or less the case. They executed the rule but I think it's a bit hard to digest."

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Previous appeals against violent conduct for hair pulling in the Premier League this season have so far proved unsuccessful, with Everton's Michael Keane and Manchester United's Lisandro Martínez forced to serve three-game suspensions. Sunderland believe they have a strong case that Ballard's action was not intentional, and that the ban is therefore excessive. A decision is expected before Saturday's visit of Manchester United to the Stadium of Light.

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