EMMERSON Boyce is innocent.

But that won’t save the Wigan Athletic full-back from being suspended for next Monday’s Premiership clash with Everton.

Television replays showed clearly that Boyce’s tackle on Newcastle striker, Shola Ameobi, at St James’ Park on Saturday was fair and that he was wrongly sent off for a second bookable offence.

Referee Andre Marriner has apologised for the error and the Football Association’s disciplinary department have acknowledged the decision was wrong. But the laws of the game do not permit yellow cards to be challenged, under any circumstances.

That being the case, the law is an ass and the FA are asses for going along with it.

No wonder Latics boss Steve Bruce is calling for a change in the rules while using the incident to support his call for video technology.

He argued: “In the time it took for Boycey to be sent off, a fourth official or someone in the stands could have watched the replay from different angles (as is done in the press boxes) and a judgment made from there and relayed to the referee.”

It’s only a matter of time before that is the case but that was no consolation for Wigan who were hit by the proverbial double whammy. They were leading 1-0 and, in Bruce’s view, looking fairly comfortable when they were reduced to 10-men – and ended up needing a late equaliser from Titus Bramble to rescue a draw.

Now they lose their regular full-back for an important home game – for no good reason other than the fact that FIFA force individual associations to stick rigidly to the rules and don’t let them use their common sense.