Sun Jihai has apologised to his Manchester City team-mates for the red card which cost the Blues any chance of reaching the FA Cup semi-finals.

The Chinese international was dismissed by referee Howard Webb 10 minutes into the second half of tonight's 2-1 home defeat to West Ham after swinging an arm at Matthew Etherington as the pair wrestled for possession by the touchline.

It looked a harsh decision and with City already trailing to Dean Ashton's opener, it left them with a mountain which proved too big for them to climb.

Blues boss Stuart Pearce refused to condemn Webb afterwards, instead revealing Sun had said sorry to his colleagues.

'Jihai is not a nasty player, totally the opposite in fact,' said Pearce.

'He is one of the most honest lads we have at this club and it is a mark of the character of the man that as soon as the dust had settled, he came up and apologised to me and the rest of the lads for getting sent off.'

Pearce was left counting the heavy cost of a defeat which all but ends City's chances of qualifying for next season's UEFA Cup.

Stephen Jordan will require an X-ray on the ankle injury which forced him off before half-time, while Albert Riera suffered a muscle strain and Joey Barton an ankle problem.

The worst news though surrounds ¡ê6million Greek striker Georgios Samaras, who could miss the remainder of the season if Pearce's worst fears on a scan on the ankle injury he picked up against Wigan on Saturday are realised.

In their first quarter-final appearance for 13 years, anything that could go wrong for City did.

(soccernet via China Daily March 21, 2006)