North Queensland Fury likely to appeal Akoto suspension

North Queensland Fury are set to appeal the two-match ban handed to defender Eric Akoto.

The Togo international was sent off in the 81st minute of the Fury’s 2-2 draw with Melbourne Victory on Sunday for pushing Kevin Muscat but the Townsville club believe the suspension is too harsh and will sit down with Akoto to discuss the finer details of what occurred on the day.

It seemed as though Akoto was provoked by Victory players to react in an aggressive manner and Fury CEO Rabieh Krayem confirmed the club would look into the incident further.

"We're looking at the matter, we'll have further meetings tomorrow and we're hopeful the matter will get resolved one way or another by tomorrow," he told the Townsville Bulletin.

"But we need to talk to Eric and get some further statements from other players and once we have got all the facts before us we will then make a statement.

"It'd be very premature for us to make a statement without us speaking to the players first.

“Were naturally disappointed with the referee's decision to award Eric a red card for violent conduct and the subsequent two-match suspension," Krayem added.

"We believed we had a strong case for this red card to be overturned and will make a decision (this morning) as to whether to ask for this ruling to be reviewed by the FFA disciplinary committee."