David Syers will return to battle this week fresh, hungry and still seething with injustice.

The all-action midfielder has been a frustrated spectator for City’s last three games; frustrated and frothing as he faces the punishment for a crime he claims never took place.

Syers remains as adamant of his innocence now as he was the split-second that Dean Mohareb red-carded him against Shrewsbury on New Year’s Eve.

Seeing contentious tackles on the telly since has not helped to calm his mood. Syers still feels the challenge on Nicky Wroe that led him to an early bath was a fair one.

He said: “A lot of people were saying that the Vincent Kompany tackle (that got him sent off) was the same as mine. But he did tackle two-footed.

“Glen Johnson’s challenge (on Joleon Lescott) was horrific. It was ten times worse than what I did.

“I will tell anyone that mine was not a dangerous tackle. It was low to the ground.

“You look at all the reasons for why people get sent off, jumping in, leaving the ground, having your studs in the air. But mine was none of those.

“I’ve been done because of using ‘excessive force’ in a successful challenge.”

City lost their appeal against the dismissal and Syers feels it was too easy for the authorities to back up the first-year official.

“The appeal system isn’t there to right wrongs, it seems to be there to protect the referee. The way it is at the moment is pointless.

“It’s annoying because even the ref admitted mine was not with both feet. It was a fair challenge where I got the ball.

“But as soon as you start labelling things like ‘excessive force’ and ‘over aggressive’, where are these parameters?

“Who judges them? It’s getting very confusing.”

A run-out for the reserves at Middlesbrough’s training ground this afternoon will blow the cobwebs off before Syers targets his League Two return against Bristol Rovers.

Phil Parkinson cannot wait to get his full-on commitment back in the fray – and Syers has vowed that his approach will not alter one bit.

He added: “If that situation arose again, I’d do exactly the same and another referee would probably say ‘good tackle’.

“I came back in (to the team) after my injury feeling fit and strong and then everything suddenly stops.

“It’s worrying because you look in ten years from now at the next generation and wonder if tackling will be a thing of the past.

“But imagine if I don’t go in for the next 50/50 challenge like that. What would the gaffer or the fans say if I didn’t try for it and they scored a goal?

“It’s not a case of solving the situation. The referee made a mistake and won’t admit it and that’s what has caused the problem.

“Ninety nine times out of 100 that challenge would be a case of ‘play on, he’s got the ball’. He’s used these muddled ambigious terms to protect himself.”

The most educated player in the Valley Parade dressing room views it as another tough lesson in his blossoming football career. He will move on even more determined to make up for yet more lost time.

Just don’t ask him to forgive or forget.

“There’s nothing you can do about it now but it’s a very dangerous precedent to set that you can win the ball one-footed and still be sent off because of very ambigious statements.

“Nobody’s going to have a go afterwards if the ref had put in his report that he had made a mistake but he just wanted to cover his own back after the incident.

“The FA always preach to us that refs make mistakes and we have to accept them. This makes you lose faith in the system.

“But I suppose these things are there to test you in your career.

“I was lucky last year but this season has been a bit different with the knee injury and now this. It’s how you come back from these setbacks that prove the kind of pro you want to be.

“January 28 has been the date I’ve been waiting for. I’m here and ready if the gaffer wants to pick me and I’m happy to go out there and do it all again.”