UNFORTUNATE Ugo Ehiogu will miss Middlesbrough's FA Cup quarter-final tie with either Crewe or Everton following his sending off at Upton Park.

The 29-year-old centre-back was shown the red card in the 1-0 defeat at West Ham on Saturday for his second bookable offence. Ehiogu's first yellow card - a challenge on Vladimir Labant - was dubious, but the second for a late tackle on the same player deserved to be punished.

And now the England man will have to suffer having to watch Boro's vital FA Cup clash on March 10 from the stands of the Cellnet Riverside.

And his teammate, and defensive colleague, Gareth Southgate admitted referee Chris Foy had little alternative but to end Ehiogu's match just a minute from time.

"There was no choice in the end for the referee," said Southgate. "I certainly thought the first booking was harsh. Officials have a difficult task but I could not understand the first booking.

"Unfortunately once he had been booked, the second foul was a yellow card so he had to go.

"I think the linesman gave the first decision to be honest but we don't want to start complaining about the referee.

"We had a situation in the week against Fulham when Franck (Queudrue) could have been sent off and wasn't. We had another against Blackburn where their player was sent off and probably shouldn't have been. So these things even out.

"It's just unfortunate for Ugo because he might miss the Cup game now but we have just got to get on with it."

And Southgate, Boro's most consistent player since his £6m arrival from Aston Villa in the summer, also indicated his belief that Mark Schwarzer's blunder for the goal could have happened to anyone.

At 0-0 Schwarzer mis-kicked a clearance which allowed West ham to go on and score through Frederic Kanoute on 75 minutes - raising questions over whether Mark Crossley should have kept his place in the Boro side.

But Southgate said: "Mark Schwarzer came in on Tuesday and did fairly well and, apart from that one mistake, he had a flawless game on Saturday.

"Things happen and people will highlight the fact about Crossley, but it depends on how Mark deals with it really."

And he added: "I think a point would have been fair. I thought we dominated the first half in particular and then they had a spell of 15-20 minutes but we came through that and then they got the goal.

"One mistake has cost us, but next week it could be somebody else so we can't blame people.

"Schwarzer knows full well it was an unfortunate mistake but, as I say, on another day it could be one of us."

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