LIAM McDonald has vowed Redditch United will fight the FA’s decision to charge the club for mistakenly playing suspended pair James Mutton and Jazz Luckie against St Neots.

The governing body has accused the Valley Stadium and the players of breaking Rule E10, which is failing to comply with suspensions, and has given all three parties until Friday to respond.

Mutton and Luckie were dismissed in the 1-0 loss to King’s Lynn, a game which saw the referee replaced by one of his assistants because of injury and then descend into a melee.

United had been keen to appeal their dismissals but had been waiting for official confirmation and the referee’s report.

Redditch say there was no notification on the Birmingham County FA website about the suspensions commencing on February 20 because of a system glitch and the duo played in the 3-1 win over St Neots.

The Reds were informed of their error six days later and both men have now missed clashes against Hitchin, Poole and Weymouth.

Under FA rules, clubs are obliged to check with the FA about when potential bans begin.

If Redditch fail in their appeal they could face a points deduction, which would be a setback to their title hopes in the Southern League Premier.

McDonald said: “We were always planning to appeal both players’ sending offs but we were waiting to hear back from the FA about when their suspensions would start and read the referee’s report.

“We didn’t learn their that their suspensions started against St Neots on February 20 until the Friday after.

“We have video evidence that Jazz was completely innocent of what he was sent off for.

“Jim was also very unlucky, he got a red card and the King’s Lynn player was shown a yellow for the same offence.

“They have both served their suspensions but we will go to the FA and make our case that they shouldn’t have been sent off in the first place.

“Whatever the outcome, we won’t let this setback affect us. We’re in a great position in the league and it’s going to be an exciting end to the season.”

United will be hoping to bounce back from a disappointing week at relegation battling Paulton Rovers (3pm ko), before a trip to Cirencester next Tuesday (7.45pm ko).

Reds were beaten 2-0 at Weymouth on Saturday, while their home clash against Kettering was called off at 8.15pm on Monday because of floodlight failure.

Despite the setback, United remain fourth in the table and very much in the promotion race.

Luckie and Mutton are now available after serving their bans while Jamie Molyneux and Rob Thompson-Brown, who missed Saturday’s clash because of personal reasons, are set to feature this weekend.

“We’ve put ourselves in a great position and we’ll be trying to bounce back against Paulton,” added the Redditch manager.

“When you haven’t lost many times in the season it hurts even more when you do.

“There are so many teams who can still win the league it’s going to be very interesting.

“Hopefully we can go on another run of five or six games unbeaten to in the mix.”