BURNLEY boss Sean Dyche said he was not tempted to appeal Brian Stock’s dismissal, because he wasn’t confident of a positive outcome.

The Clarets were within their rights to contest the midfielder’s first of two yellow cards in last week’s FA Cup loss at Barnsley on the grounds of mistaken identity as Stock was booked for an incident involving Michael Duff.

But Dyche said referee Paul Tierney’s reaction led to them accepting the punishment, rather than challenging it.

“I spoke to the referee afterwards and he said there was jostling in the wall,” he explained.

“I said ‘why didn’t you book him then instead of waiting until a minute later?’ “So I just thought ‘what’s the point?’ because he could just say there was jostling in the wall.

“You’ve just got to look at it rationally and decide if it’s going to make a difference.

“I’ve seen it enough times, I know what happened, but that’s the way it is.

“If there is a saving grace it is only a one-game suspension. It could have been worse, but not a lot.

“It’s another player who’s not available for one game.”

He added: “It’s an unfathomable one to me, but we’ve had a couple since I’ve been here so we’re hoping that over a season the old adage plays out that it does even itself out.

“There are no guarantees of course so we have to keep working hard and earning everything that we get.”