MICHAEL Appleton felt Danny Hylton’s suspension was inevitable, so had no regrets over keeping him on the pitch long enough to collect a tenth booking.

United’s top scorer triggered a two-game ban with a late yellow card in the 1-0 win at Bury last weekend.

Hylton had committed two other fouls just before the offence in a fractious game.

But with another seven fixtures to play before the cut-off date for ten bookings comes into effect, Appleton expected Hylton to collect a suspension, so did not rue missing the chance to take him off.

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He said: “Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but he’s not picked up ten bookings this season for no reason, has he?

“He’s a competitive player who lives on the edge and you’re not going to take that out of him.”

Hylton, who has 15 goals this season, will be unavailable for the home games against Plymouth Argyle and Hartlepool United.

But Appleton has several alternatives to step in.

He said: “Robbo (James Roberts) has got his goals, Kemar (Roofe) gave us a different dimension at Bury.

“There’s also Armand (Gnanduillet) and others who are different options.”