COLCHESTER United will NOT be appealing Jabo Ibehre’s red card.

Ibehre was sent off for a high challenge on defender Neil Austin, at the end of the first half of Tuesday night’s goalless draw at Hartlepool.

U’s boss Joe Dunne had initially declared his intention to appeal Ibehre’s red card, in an effort to avoid a three-match suspension.

But the Dubliner revealed this morning that he would not now be lodging an appeal, so Ibehre will miss the next three games against Crewe (on Saturday), plus the away games at Coventry and Bury next week.

Dunne confirmed: “We won’t be putting in an appeal for Jabo.

“Coming back from Hartlepool, we watched the whole game. It was very stop-start, with the number of fouls, and the number of yellow cards.

“Then we got the ruling text through the next day, and watched the game again early in the morning.

“We haven’t really got a lot of manoeuvrability I’m afraid, based on the ruling.

“The wording of the ruling, in terms of excessive force and lunge, puts us in a difficult situation.

“I still feel it was harsh. However, we run the risk of losing him for four games.

“We either take the hit for a week, or three weeks. Like I said, we’ve made a lot of phone calls and done a lot of research, including on the referee (Geoff Eltringham).

“And We could have ended up losing him for four games rather than three,” added Dunne.

The U’s will also have to make do without the services of fellow attacker Freddie Sears against Crewe. Sears will remain sidelined by a knee injury.