Man Utd win their appeal against red card shown to key midfielder

The key midfielder was shown a straight red card in Sunday’s 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur after the referee deemed her tussle with Eveliina Summanen as violent conduct.

Toone was shown the red card at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium just moments after a Molly Bartrip own goal had handed United the lead in a pulsating final 15 minutes. It came after she reacted to a challenge from the Finnish international, though the decision was questioned by many after Summanen was seen holding her face despite replays showing there being no contact.

United head coach Marc Skinner later confirmed that he had planned on appealing the red card shown to the Lionesses star and the FA have now confirmed it has been successful, citing the decision as ‘wrongful dismissal’.

Speaking to Sky Sports in the aftermath of the game, Skinner accused Summanen of play acting, saying: “We want our players to show passion, committment, energy - but when you hold your face, this is play acting in my opinion. With Ella, I want to see passion and committment in our players - there’s a little bit of play acting for me.

“It is something we will work on internally, of course, we have to be accountable but you need a little bit of help from other players as well.”

Toone herself took to social media to apologise for the red, writing “I pride myself on the passion and love I have when playing for this club. Hold my hands up for my reaction and I’ll learn from it. Proud of the team”.

Had the red card stood, it would have left the title chasers without one of their key players for the crunch top of the table clash away to Chelsea on March 12 as well as the FA Cup tie with Durham and the WSL game with Leicester City.

Manchester United currently sit top of the WSL table and are one point better off than reigning champions Chelsea ahead of next month’s mammoth clash.