SWINDON Town decided against appealing the red card handed to Jay McEveley last week after seeing the Football Association reject West Ham’s attempt to get Andy Carroll’s recent dismissal overturned.

Robins manager Mark Cooper told the Advertiser that Town felt an appeal against McEveley’s sending-off, incurred for a clumsy tackle on Britt Assombalonga at Peterborough United last Wednesday, would be a “waste of time” given the precedent set by the sport’s governing body in upholding Howard Webb’s decision to hand Carroll his marching orders for clipping Swansea City’s Chico Flores with his arm in a Premier League clash at Upton Park.

McEveley will therefore serve his four-match suspension and the left-back sat out Town’s 3-2 victory at Port Vale on Saturday.

Cooper said: “It’s a waste of time. If Andy Carroll can’t win that then what chance have we got with Jay McEveley?

“We decided between us that there would be no point because if Andy Carroll can’t get that then we’ll have no chance of getting Jay.

“They’re going to stand by Howard Webb, he’s a World Cup referee.

“They’re not going to say he made a mistake so we had no chance of winning that.”

Goals from Nile Ranger, Alex Pritchard and Nathan Byrne helped Swindon turn a 2-0 half-time deficit into a memorable 3-2 victory at Port Vale and Cooper was pleased with the way his players adapted to high winds and heavy rain as well as a quagmire of a pitch at Vale Park.

“We are more suited to the nicer weather and the nicer pitches, but in a long season you have to grind it out even when it’s not so nice,” he said.

“It’s difficult to play in. The conditions at the end were atrocious.

“It’s not nice, you have to grind it out but it’s the same for both teams and we just had to get through it.”