GEORGE Saville will miss Millwall’s next three games after an appeal against his red card was rejected.
The midfielder was shown a straight red by referee Dean Whitestone as he tackled Norwich’s Jonathan Rowe on the halfway line last night. The 20-year-old had been racing away on the counter-attack before being taken down by Saville.
Millwall held on for the 1-0 win but will now lose their influential midfield man for league games against Bristol City and Middlesborough next month and the FA Cup third-round match against Leicester City in between.
The Lions had appealed the length of the ban to the FA but did not win their case.
Some fans felt Saville was hard done by with the type of tackle he committed – a player deliberately stopping a counter-attack with a cynical foul – sometimes resulting in a yellow card, a point made by both Norwich boss David Wagner and Lions head coach Joe Edwards after the game.
But it is possible the force of the challenge counted against the 30-year-old.
His suspension coincides with the continuing injury absence of Casper De Norre, meaning Millwall will be without two of their top midfielders for parts of January.
Saville had previously missed the away trip to Cardiff City earlier this month after picking up five yellow cards in separate games.
Last night marked Saville’s first sending off for Millwall in 174 appearances and just the second red card of a professional career that has spanned 451 appearances for different clubs.
It also ended the Lions’ incredible 141-game stretch without a red card in Championship games, a run that began in January 2021 following Murray Wallace’s sending off in a 2-1 home defeat to Coventry City.