OLDHAM Athletic will have to play three of their remaining four games without captain Carl Piergianni.

The defender was sent off in the 88th minute of their Good Friday defeat to Northampton for an adjudged elbow on Jon Guthrie when the pair competed for a header.

The incident sparked a clash between both sets of players, with referee Sam Purkiss going on to consult his assistants before reducing relegation-threatened Oldham to 10 men, then issuing yellow cards to Northampton duo Sam Hoskins and Ali Koiki, as well as Latics substitute Kyle Jameson.

Latics head coach John Sheridan said in his post-match press conference that he would review footage before deciding whether or not to appeal Piergianni’s late red card, which carried a three-match ban.

The Oldham Times understands that the club have since opted against appealing, as there is the risk of an extra game being added to the suspension if the appeal was unsuccessful, and that would mean the end of Piergianni’s season.

“A straight red is three games, which doesn’t help the cause at all,” said Sheridan after the game.

“I think he’s caught him with his elbow but I don’t think he has gone with the intention to elbow him.

“He’s gone up with momentum and he’s competitive. But I’m not happy with how some of their players rushed in. We should have done that last week (at Port Vale for a bad challenge on Davis Keillor-Dunn). Sometimes that’s just the nature of the game, I’ve done it myself when I’ve rushed in and got people sent off. That’s football. So they saw an opportunity, and our lads last week sat back and thought ‘oh it’s not that bad a tackle, leave it’. Theirs are rushing in and they’re on top of the referee.

“He’s gone up competitively but I think he has caught him.”