Cunningham suffers red card blow

Birmingham captain Kenny Cunningham will miss the first two games of the 2004/05 Premiership season following his sending off in Saturday’s 3-0 defeat to Liverpool.

Cunningham had originally been expected to miss one match after being sent off by referee Steve Dunn following a challenge on Steven Gerrard.

But the Football Association have confirmed today that Cunningham’s red card total for the season is now officially counted as two because of his sending-off against Newcastle in the Asia Cup tournament back in July.

Cunningham was not forced to miss any first team games after the dismissal in Malaysia and was allowed to serve a one-match suspension for a reserve team match instead.

However, an FA spokesman today told the club website, www.bcfc.com: “If he had just been sent off in a non-first team match last Saturday he would have been suspended for two non-first team matches – the suspension applies to the level of football that the sending-off occurred in.

“It’s a two-match suspension as he has been sent off twice this season, despite the first sending-off being in a non-first team match.”