Manager Roddy Collins had been confident that the club would succeed in getting the ban lifted because he said the video of the incident in which Jack was alleged by the referee to have head-butted his opponent, was "cast-iron" in showing that the clash of heads was accidental. But the authorities have ruled otherwise and upheld the decision which was for violent conduct, which carries the maximum three-match suspension. Club secretary Sarah McKnight said: "They have decided it was violent conduct and that his three-match ban will stand. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about it. If the FA decide that, we have to accept it. He will be banned for the next three home games." The news will come as a further blow to Collins who already has had to watch six of his players serve bans for sendings off this season. Jack will start his ban on Saturday when Leyton Orient visit Brunton Park. The London side warmed up for the clash with a highly impressive 4-1 victory at First Division Portsmouth in the FA Cup on Saturday. Give us a winter break, says Roddy Roddy Collins has called on the Football League to make Carlisle's enforced four-game break a permanent event by introducing a winter shutdown. United will not play for three weeks after their televised visit to Hull City fell by the wayside on Friday afternoon after a pitch inspection. The weekend thaw came 24 hours too late to save the game, which leaves United with three games in hand on some of their Division Three rivals. Collins is unconcerned by the break and claims his players have used the time to get in some serious work during training. However he showed his concern over the coming fixture pile-up, which could worsen if the bad weather returns. "It is disappointing as now we are going to face a lot of games over the next few weeks. Looking at it, we will play 16 games in the next eight weeks or so, which is far too many. But there is nothing we can do about it. So we will just have to get on with it and plug away," he said. "Maybe this adds to the argument for a winter break. They do it in Scotland and it is the sensible thing to do." Re-arranged dates announced Three of United's postponed Christmas and New Year fixtures have been re-arranged. The match at Rochdale will now take place on Tuesday January 29 with a 7.45 pm kick-off. The home game with Darlington will be on Tuesday February 5 and the match against Torquay United on Tuesday March 12, both with 7.45pm kick-off times. |
