Royals striker Shane Long will be suspended for three games following his red card at Derby on Saturday.

Long was sent off in the 80th minute for a late challenge on Fredrik Stoor, and the FA have confirmed this morning that the dismissal was for serious foul play and a three-match ban will now follow.

The Irish international labelled the incident at Pride Park as 'unfortunate'.  

"The defender fouled me and the ref didn't give a free-kick, and when I looked up the defender was on the ground so I thought I could win the ball and he's just cleared it just before I got there," he explained.

"It was literally milliseconds and I didn't mean to catch him, but I have caught him and it's unfortunate. I think the ref has looked at it that I lost my head and tried to get my own back but that's not the way it was at all. I've got to hold my hands up and see that when you're playing away from home the crowd goes against you and it's a hard decision for the referee to make. I've just got to put my head down and concentrate on getting back."

Some observers pointed to an equally fierce looking challenge from Rams striker Rob Hulse in the first half, for which the match official only produced a yellow card, but Long again refused to make excuses.

"We got a free-kick for that tackle but he barely even got a yellow, it's just the way it goes. I think if it was at home it would have been a different story as mine wasn't as late as a lot of other tackles in the game. but we can't complain, we have to move on."