Irish Premiership: Glentoran fear Allen may be banned for play-offs after red card

Curtis Allen (right) scored twice in Glentoran's win over Dungannon on Tuesday night

Glentoran fear they may go into the Irish Premiership play-offs without star Curtis Allen after his red card in Tuesday's win over Dungannon Swifts.

Referee Shane Andrews sent off Allen and Swifts' Seanan Clucas late in the game after an incident which led to a melee involving several players.

Glens assistant boss Kieran Harding said Allen is "adamant that he did nothing wrong".

"The referee got it wrong," insisted the Glentoran assistant.

Replays show the Dungannon player Clucas putting his left arm around Allen's neck and after the Glentoran striker appears to grab the Swifts man's shirt, several others got involved with a number of players ending up on the turf.

The incident occurred shortly after Allen had scored his second goal in Glentoran's 4-2 victory which guaranteed the Oval outfit's seventh-place finish to secure a play-offs spot.

"Whether the referee saw another player getting involved, I don't know. (A case of) Mistaken Identity? I don't know," added Harding.

"All we know is that we're left in the situation where we are going into the play-offs with our leading goal scorer, at the present minute in time, being unavailable.

"I think when anyone looks at the footage, they will see that he hasn't done anything wrong."

Under the Irish FA's disciplinary code, red cards incur an automatic one-match ban but incidents of serious foul play or violent conduct can see players handed an additional two-game suspension.

There are two sets of games left in the regulation season so a three-match ban would rule Allen out of the play-offs semi-final.