Manchester United unable to pull off appeal for Lisandro Martinez red card against Leeds United

The Argentinian centre-back was sent off in the second half of Leeds' Premier League game at Old Trafford after a pitchside video review by referee Paul Tierney.

Pulling the hair of an opponent is classed as violent conduct, and carries a minimum three-match ban as well as a straight red card.

Manchester United coach Michael Carrick called the decision “one of the worst I’ve seen," but the Football Association have confirmed the Red Devils' attempt to overturn the suspension failed.

They complained about Calvert-Lewin’s challenge on Leny Yoro in the build-up to the first of Noah Okafor's two goals, and cited an unpunished example of hair-pulling between Fulham’s Kenny Tete and Manchester City’s Antoine Semenyo in February.

In its written reasons for the decision by an FA commission, it was said that it “did not feel that it could be said with any confidence that the force exerted… was negligible”.

Partly influencing that was the fact that Calvert-Lewin "had reacted in a manner that suggested that he had felt a certain amount of force exerted upon his hair/scalp".

Although the panel accepted other forms of violent conduct "carry a much higher risk of harm to an opponent", it added: "In the wider interests of football 'hair pulling' ought not to be tolerated and should be discouraged through consistent punishment."

The red card actually hindered Leeds, who were leading 2-0 at the time. With the stadium and home team galvanised, the hosts pulled a goal back but could not avoid their first home league defeat to their cross-Pennine rivals since 1981.

Martinez, who has already served one game of his suspension, will also be unavailable at home to Brentford on Monday night and Liverpool on May 3.