Steve Bruce hints at Jake Livermore decision after West Brom red card

Steve Bruce has confirmed that West Bromwich Albion will consider appealing against Jake Livermore’s red card administered at Sheffield United on Wednesday night.

Albion had to play for more than half of the 2-0 defeat to the Blades without their captain, after he was handed his marching orders for a late challenge on Aston Villa loanee Conor Hourihane.

Leigh Doughty was surrounded immediately by home players and, after momentary consideration, he went for the red card in his shirt pocket. It’s Livermore’s second red card of the season - meaning he’ll miss four matches - and his fifth since arriving at Albion - all of them coming since 2018.

Bruce wasn’t in full agreement with the official’s call and will assess all the evidence with an appeal to the EFL an option.

“We’ll have a look and see what the process is, and if I feel as though it’s right and we’ve got a chance, then I’ll look at it with a clear view,” Bruce said. “It depends on the views we’ve got. I saw it where I was and I thought he played the ball.

“If he doesn’t make the challenge he’s got thousands of West Brom fans, and me, asking ‘why didn’t you make the challenge?’ The spectacle is about making a challenge.

“If it was really dangerous or reckless...when you see it, and I have, I don’t think it is at all. He’s played the ball. It’s no more than the tackle that was played next to me [on Grady Diangana].

“The refreshing thing about the Championship is the honesty of it, in my opinion. The referees are different, you don’t get away with those challenges in the Premier League but we’ve seen two or three of the same sort of thing that Jake did today - the referee has let those go.”

Albion were a goal behind at the time of Livermore’s dismissal, after