Lewis Dunk to serve a two-match suspension following his straight red card for foul and abusive language directed at referee Anthony Taylor in Brighton’s 3-2 win against Nottingham Forest

Lewis Dunk will serve a two-match suspension following his straight red card for dissent in Brighton‘s 3-2 victory over Nottingham Forest on Saturday. 

The Seagulls skipper objected to Anthony Taylor’s decision to award the home side a penalty after reviewing the incident at the pitchside monitor. 

The match official initially showed the defender a yellow card for his questioning but immediately upgraded it to a red following language he deemed personally abusive. It has not been revealed what was specifically said by Dunk.  

As a result of his sending off, the England international will miss Brighton’s next two Premier League outings against Chelsea and Brentford. 

Dunk will be available to return for Roberto De Zerbi‘s side when their welcome Burnley to the Amex on December 9. 

The defender used language referee Anthony Taylor deemed to be personally abusive 

Mail Sport has launched a campaign to stop the abuse of referees at all levels of the game

Roberto De Zerbi’s side clung on for a much-need victory but the Brighton boss will now be without his skipper for games against Chelsea and Brentford

The 32-year-old is the first Premier League player to get his matching orders for dissent during a game in 15 years, following Newcastle’s Alan Smith, who was sent off in the Magpies’ 6-0 defeat to Manchester United in 2008. 

The flare-up comes amid Mail Sport’s campaign titled ‘Stop Abusing Referees’, which seeks to shine a light on the aggressive behaviour officials face.

Controversial VAR calls have been at the heart of the discussion throughout the season and referees have been subjected to unstinting abuse.

A staggering 10,000 referees have left football in the last five years and a surge of shameful antics by top-flight managers – be it Mikel Arteta, Mauricio Pochettino, Jurgen Klopp, or Marco Silva – has magnified how rotten examples are set at the top.

At the weekend, Morgan Gibbs-White converted the home side’s penalty after Dunk’s dismissal but Forest were unable to find an equaliser in the 20 minutes that remained. 

Steve Cooper’s side had opened the scoring three minutes into the tie through Anthony Elanga. 

However, Evan Ferguson bagged an equaliser and Joao Pedro scored either side of the break to give Brighton enough daylight and help the away side claim their first league win in two months.