Hatters fail in Benson appeal

The 35-year-old was sent off for a high foot on defender Ian Gayle, and will now miss Town’s last three games of the season.

Boss John Still, who hadn’t expected the decision to be rescinded, backed his other forwards to step up as he said: “Benson will be a massive miss, of course he will be, but it won’t limit us.

“Mark Cullen is a very good player, Elliot (Lee) is not as fit as we’d hope him to be but he is still a threat, so we’re quite happy, we’ve got Ricky Miller too.

“We didn’t have him (Benson) before and we battled on, and with three games to go we’ll continue to do so. You’ve got to get on with it, and that’s what we’ll do.”

On whether Alex Wall could be called upon to replace Benson and feature for the first time since February, Still said: “We haven’t got another out and out centre forward, we’ve got Alex Wall whose not a great headerer of the ball, he’s better in a slightly wider position anyway.

“I think Mark Cullen is very deceptive, he’s quite good in the air, good movement. He was flying earlier in the season, he might come back in and pick up the baton from then.”

Speaking on the dismissal, the boss added: “The thing that frustrates us at the time is he was clearly being fouled when he was trying to run past them.

“We got it up on the screen. It’s a foul, there’s no doubt, and Paul has his leg gone high? Yes it has, definitely.

“But whether the foul is an instigator of him having to over-reach, that’s what they’re going to have to decide.

“Paul wouldn’t have even seen the person, so it wasn’t malicious or anything like that. It’s easy for people to say, all the people on the bench were saying never a red card, there was no intent.

“I think you can see the intent, but when something is so obvious that people don’t see it, I can’t cater for that.“