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Robbie Keane Red Card Challenged

by Alexander Banks on Monday, December 3rd, 2007
Keane injusticeAmid cries of injustice Tottenham will challenge referee Phil Dowd´s decision to show Robbie Keane the red card in Sunday's 3-2 defeat by Birmingham.

Spurs are listed at 10/1 to win the Uefa Cup. Manager Juande Ramos has won that competition twice with previous club Sevilla.

The man in black Phil Dowd handed Keane his marching orders for a poorly timed lunge at Fabrice Muamba after Dowd initially appeared to consult the fourth official and linesman. In fairness, it wasnt a sending off offence and Keane clearly got the ball.

Spurs will look to have the dismissal changed retrospectively and his manager Ramos is adamant Keane should never have been sent off.

"The sending-off was harsh. In this type of incident the referee would normally show a yellow card, it certainly wasn't red. The referee was very close by. It was very unfair."

He added: "I don't know what happened but the closest person to the incident was the referee. Anybody else was a lot further away."

Sebastian Larsson's late strike from 30 yards ensured new boss Alex McLeish started his Birmingham career with a win. That victory saw Spurs lose their first match under Ramos.

Gary McSheffrey put Birmingham ahead and Keane replied before adding another. But a classy finish from Cameron Jerome put Birmingham on equal terms.

Spurs will rue missing a number of chances they had to kill the game off.

Added Ramos: "I didn't think it was fair to lose that game after the huge effort we put in. To let in a goal like near the end was not fair because we were much the better side."

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