HAYDEN Mullins is set to appeal against his sending off for violent conduct in the Hammers clash with Brighton at Upton Park on Saturday.
The Hammers right-back was dismissed by referee Paul Armstrong for allegedly throwing punches, after reacting to a rash challenge from Seagulls striker Adam Virgo, who was also shown the red-card.
Now Mullins is facing a three-match ban, but insists that he threw no punches in the 74th minute incident and may appeal against the decision.
"The referee said that he sent me off for throwing punches," explained Hayden, "but there's no way I did that.
"It was just a bit of handbags. If the sending off stands that will mean a three-match ban and I think that's pretty harsh for what was a minor incident.
"I'll discuss it with the manager and if we both agree then I'll definitely be appealing."
Hayden felt that the tackle from the Brighton forward was a poor one, but the 25-year-old did admit that he perhaps should have controlled his reaction.
"I felt I took a bad tackle," said Hayden, "which then caused me to react. Maybe I shouldn't have reacted the way I did, but it was in the middle of a very tight game and it was just a heat of the moment reaction.
"The incident got blown out of proportion, and I don't think it warranted a red-card."
Hayden's misfortune was compounded as the Hammers went down 1-0 to the Seagulls, a defeat which disappointed the former Crystal Palace player.
"The result was disappointing," admitted Hayden, "especially when you look at the chances we had in the first-half, where we could have been two or three up.
"It was an unusual game and we need to get it out of our system now and concentrate on this weekend's game at Millwall."