Sheffield Wednesday decided not to appeal Sil Swinkels’ red card against Blackpool.

The Dutch defender, a summer signing from Aston Villa, was sent off in the first-half by referee Simon Mather at Hillsborough on Saturday. With The Owls leading 1-0, it was a game-changing moment and meant they had to play more than 50 minutes with 10-men. In the end, they could not hold on and conceded an equaliser with nine minutes remaining.

Swinkels was the last man but there was debate about whether Tom Bloxham’s touch was taking him away from goal and that it might not have been a clear goalscoring opportunity. Matt Hamshaw, who in interim charge at the time, said they ‘may well’ appeal it. New Owls boss Dave Challinor was at the game watching from the directors’ box ahead of being officially appointed on Monday.

Speaking to the media on Thursday afternoon ahead of his first match in charge against Oldham Athletic in the FA Cup on Sunday, Challinor told The Star: “I suppose you speak to people and potentially people that are involved in the game. Do I think it was a red card? Probably not. But is it going to get overturned? So all things adding up, it almost becomes no real point in it.

“Sil’s obviously disappointed. You can look at it and say the player's going away from goal. It's hard to judge the pace and whether he'll get there and what sort of opportunity he is. Would he have had an opportunity to play? Probably he would. So as the referee within his rights to it, I suppose he is. I think we can all have different opinions on that. But it was a toss-up of Coin one rather than a no. He definitely should have shouldn't have been sent off.”

The suspension means Swinkels will now serve a three-match ban and be unavailable for the start of Challinor’s appointment.