WANDERERS are to appeal against Gardner's red card for denying Dennis Bergkamp a goalscoring opportunity in the hot spot of Saturday's top of the table clash at Highbury.

They will send a copy of the match video to the FA's appeals panel urging them to overturn the decision referee Clive Wilkes made on the half hour at the instigation of his assistant, Des Morrison. "If he hit him with anything it was a feather!" Sam Allardyce said in defence of the unfortunate Jamaican. "We'll send the video in and ask the panel to have a look at it. It was very, very harsh."

Gardner is the second Bolton player this season to be red-carded for denying a goalscoring opportunity and like Colin Hendry, who misses the Sunderland game, he faces a one-match suspension.