Football
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West Brom's Craign Dawson banned after case of mistaken identity

Craig Dawson will serve a one-match ban after Gareth McAuley's mistaken red card was transferred to his West Brom teammate.

The Football Association has confirmed the defender will be banned instead of McAuley.

Referee Neil Swarbrick sent McAuley off by mistake after Dawson had fouled Wilfried Bony in the Baggies' 3-0 defeat to Manchester City on Saturday.

Swarbrick apologised, via a statement from the Professional Game Match Officials Ltd, and the case of mistaken identity has been accepted by an Independent Regulatory Commission.

An FA statement confirmed: "Following an Independent Regulatory Commission hearing today [Monday 23 March 2015], a claim of mistaken identity in relation to West Bromwich Albion's Gareth McAuley was successful.

"The player was dismissed during the game against Manchester City on Saturday [21 March 2015] for denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity.

"The standard punishment of a one-match suspension has been transferred to Craig Dawson and will be served with immediate effect."

Dawson will miss Albion's clash with QPR at The Hawthorns on April 4.

The incident marked the second time in a matter of weeks that the wrong player has been sent off in a Premier League game, after Roger East dismissed Sunderland's Wes Brown against Manchester United for an offence committed by fellow United old boy John O'Shea.

PGMOL general manager Mike Riley has called for the introduction of video replays to assist officials in such cases.

Riley told BBC Radio 5 Live: "The referee has got to make his decision based on what he thinks he's seen. His instincts often lead him to trust his judgement.

"It's one of the areas that would lend itself to technology.

"The game has stopped and there's time before we restart the game to have a look at something. That would provide the concrete evidence that would get the decision right.

"We've been open-minded to things like the goal decision system which has made a great difference and a great benefit to referees in the Premier League.

"We need to see what other technology can be used to get refereeing decisions more accurate.

He added: "We need to test it in live football. Until we do that, we won't know the impact on the game.

"Technology can be helpful but we don't want to destroy the fabric of the game, the fast-flowing spectacle we all love."

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