Livid Lamb blasts FA standards

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The FA deemed Boro's appeal against Aliadiere's three-match ban for striking out at Liverpool's Javier Mascherano on Saturday to be "frivolous" and added an extra game's suspension on Tuesday.

Boro chief Lamb was astounded by the regulatory commission's verdict, and said: "It is a disgraceful comment to suggest our claim was frivolous. We agonised over it before deciding to submit a claim for wrongful dismissal."

He added: "The Oxford Dictionary definition of frivolous is, 'not serious, shallow, silly or trifling', while in fact we spent more than two days considering whether or not to appeal the incident.

"It seems strange that only recently Chelsea's appeal against Michael Essien's three-match ban was rejected but not considered 'frivolous'.

"It appears that there is one rule for the big boys and another for the rest of us."

Meanwhile, Boro face Sheffield United in an FA Cup fifth-round replay at the Riverside Stadium on Wednesday and manager Gareth Southgate has challenged winger Stewart Downing to make it impossible for England coach Fabio Capello to ignore him.

Capello picked the midfielder in his original squad of 30 for his first game in charge, but then left him out of the final 22 - much to his disappointment.

But Southgate said: "I do believe he can cement a place in that international side.

"He has got an opportunity now with the new manager coming in that he will judge people on what he sees now and not on previous reputations. The form Stewart is in, he will be hammering on the door and he has just got to keep that going."