Villa appeal Hendrie red card

Aston Villa have lodged an official appeal against Lee Hendrie's sending off in the closing seconds of Saturday's 2-0 defeat by Manchester City.

Club officials are forwarding video footage of the incident involving Hendrie and City defender Danny Mills to the Football Association in an attempt to overturn referee Mike Riley's red card.

Hendrie feigned as if to headbutt Mills but television pictures showed the midfielder made no contact.

"Both David O'Leary and Kevin Keegan made their feelings clear after the game and we now feel that the incident merits a second look," Villa operations director Steve Stride told Aston Villa's website.

"Understandably referee Mike Riley made his decision based on what he saw from his position but the availability of video evidence means this is an incident that deserves further consideration."

The FA disciplinary panel will review the incident on Thursday and Hendrie is keeping his fingers crossed he can escape a three match ban for violent conduct.