Doncaster Rovers striker Paul Heffernan faces three matches on the sidelines following his straight red card late on in the Play-Off semi-final first leg against Southend United on Friday evening.

The 26 year-old Irishman was shown the red card by referee Paul Taylor on the 88th minute, after Heffernan reacted to a challenge by Southend defender Peter Clarke. Heffernan appeared to make a contact of heads with the former Everton defender.

The result is an automatic three-match ban, which would mean that Heffernan is to miss the return leg against Southend, a possible Play-Off final and either one or two matches at the beginning of next season - dependant on whether Rovers reach the Play-Off final at Wembley on 25th May.

"Paul is going to pay for a misdemeanour," said Rovers boss Sean O'Driscoll following the game at Roots Hall.

"You can't do what he did; you can't put your head into the another player's face. The referee has to stick to the letter of the law. It's an automatic three-game ban, so unfortunately he is going to miss the next game and - if there is a final - he's going to miss that too."

"I don't believe in fining people. I think that he is going to have to take responsibility of the punishment of missing the next game and missing a possible final; that's more than enough. He knows that he's let everybody down and he has to live with that - but I would rather praise him for his performance. He's worked really hard and come back into the side. I brought him and Jason Price off really early against Huddersfield Town when they weren't really competing. But they've worked really hard and we felt it was right to bring them back into the squad."