Anxious wait for Dover Athletic who have appealed against defender Tyrone Sterling's red card in 1-0 loss at St Albans City but Myles Judd will serve suspension at Braintree Town

There will be an anxious wait for Dover to see if they’ll be without defender Tyrone Sterling this weekend.

Sterling was dismissed in the early stages of Saturday’s 1-0 loss at promotion-chasing St Albans in National League South - Whites’ fourth straight defeat.

Dover battled bravely despite their numerical disadvantage but went down to a first-half goal in front of a crowd of more than 2,000 before right-back Myles Judd received a second booking towards the end as they finished with nine players.

Manager Mitch Brundle was unhappy with 35-year-old Sterling’s dismissal, a decision they are appealing, while he felt Judd was unlucky to get a second yellow card.

On Sterling’s red card, Brundle said: “We just think it’s right [to appeal], between all of us, because it’s very soft.

“It’s a touch of the arm and there’s two down in the box so it’s not a goalscoring opportunity. At the minute, the luck isn’t going our way.

“What can you do when you go down to 10 men after 15 minutes to a side fighting for the play-offs? It’s hard.

“But to be fair, at least we kept the scoreline down.”

If their appeal is unsuccessful, Whites will be without Sterling, as well as Judd, for this Saturday’s trip to play-off chasing Braintree.

Despite midfielders Lee Martin and Jordan Higgs returning from two-game bans, centre-half Jake Goodman went off with a hamstring injury at St Albans so he’s also a doubt. But Brundle doesn’t think there is an issue with discipline in their camp.

“I would not say it’s a discipline issue,” he said.

“The cut-off used to be a lot earlier. Some should not be yellow cards so I wouldn’t say it’s an issue.

“To ask someone to play nearly 40 games and not pick up 10 yellows is a big ask.

“It’s mainly in the midfield. It’s