COLIN Hendry cursed his luck today after being sent off in his comeback game.

The veteran Scot was shown the red card eight minutes into extra time as Wanderers scraped through a tricky second round Worthington Cup tie against Second Division Walsall at the Reebok last night.

Hendry and his manager, Sam Allardyce, say they have video evidence that shows the offending tackle on Saddlers' substitute Darren Byfield occured outside the penalty area. But they accept that Stockport referee Scott Mathieson, who consulted his assistant before pointing to the spot, might still have considered it a sending off offence - Byfield being through on goal and Hendry the last defender.

Having missed the first four Premiership games with a knee injury and now bracing himself for an automatic suspension, the centre-back admitted: "It's just my luck at the moment.

"It was definitely outside the box but he was coming across me and there was nothing else I could have done."

Allardyce was adamant: "It was a foul but should not have been a penalty. Our video shows Colin was well outside the box when he made contact. The linesman gave it but he made a very poor judgment.

"Whether Colin would still have been sent off if he hadn't given the penalty, I don't know."

The penalty row itself became academic when Stave Banks saved Tony Barras's spot-kick - "the save won us the match" Allardyce ackowledged after the 4-3 win - while Barras - a defender himself - sympathised with Hendry.

"It was inside," the Walsall man claimed, "but he didn't deserve to be sent off. You get the penalty AND the player gets sent off ... it should be one or the other!"