Midfielder Ouss Cisse is serving a three-match ban after what his manager described as the “most embarrassing red card” he’s ever seen.

Ebbsfleet boss Dennis Kutrieb is furious that the Football Association failed to overturn the decision after his light-mannered midfielder saw red at AFC Fylde last Saturday.

Referee David Richardson felt that Cisse had raised his arms after trying to separate the Fleet’s Hayden White and Fylde’s Josh Kay.

The Fylde midfielder dramatically went down holding his neck but the video doesn’t show any raised arms from Cisse, a view believed to be shared by the match observer.

“We didn’t win the appeal because the footage was not clear and obvious,” said Kutrieb, with Cisse serving the first match of a three-game ban in Tuesday night’s defeat at Southend.

“For me, it was clear and obvious but that’s the world we are in at the moment.

“I’m struggling to accept it and I think our club is struggling to accept it. Our fans should struggle to accept it and our players should struggle to accept it.

“I think it’s the most embarrassing red card I’ve ever seen.”

With Boreham Wood getting a recent red card against the Fleet rescinded on appeal, even though there appeared to be less evidence on that occasion to overturn the on-field ruling, the Fleet can be forgiven for thinking that they’re up against it at the moment.

But Kutrieb knows the only way they can turn that perception around is by working even harder on and off the pitch.

“The only thing you can do about it is to work harder and if you have the feeling something is not fair, and it’s obvious to see in the footage that it’s not a red card, then you need to make sure that you get the luck on your side,” said Kutrieb.

“All the things that are going against us we need to turn around and we can do that by working harder as a team and that’s what we will do.”

The Fleet host Dagenham, who sit one point and one place below them in the table, on Saturday.

It’s a game they need to win ahead of a two-week break from league action and Kutrieb is calling for the supporters to get behind his team.

“It’s a home game, we need our fans to really support us and support the players, and to push them forward so we can get that win,” said the Fleet boss.

“At this moment in time it’s not just about playing good and we’ll get the chances and win our games - it needs to be a bit more than that.

“At Southend on Tuesday, we could have scored but we didn’t. We had the chances and we should have scored at least once but we’ll work on that.

Report: Southend 3-0 Ebbsfleet

“It will be another tough challenge but if everyone feels the desire in our team to do it on Saturday, like I do, then we’ll be fine.”