Portadown appeal Chris Casement red card against Swifts

Defender Chris Casement joined Portadown from Linfield

Portadown have confirmed that they have launched an appeal to overturn the red card handed out to defender Chris Casement at Shamrock Park on Saturday.

Casement was sent-off in the 89th minute of his side's 1-1 league draw with Dungannon Swifts for allegedly head-butting Terry Fitzpatrick.

As it stands, the player is set to miss Saturday's Irish Cup semi-final against Ballymena United at the Oval.

The Ports are using video evidence to support their case.

Casement's team-mate Robert Garrett will miss this weekend's last-four clash because of an automatic suspension after being dismissed for a stamp on Swifts player Jamie Glackin.

The angry aftermath featured exchanges between the two sets of players, Casement being sent-off by referee Keith Kennedy because of what a referee's assistant deemed a head-butt on Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick has agreed to support the former Linfield defender's case by submitting a letter to say that he was not the victim of a head-butt.

To add to the Ports' woes, midfielder Tim Mouncey was forced to limp out of Saturday's Premiership derby with a knee problem.

Portadown beat Ballymena in a penalty shoot-out the last time the two sides met in an Irish Cup semi-final in April 2010.