Tottenham Hotspur have condemned the FA decision to uphold captain Robbie Keane's three-match ban.

Keane was shown a straight red card by referee Phil Dowd in the Premiership defeat to Birmingham City on Sunday and his appeal was rejected by the Regulatory Commission on Tuesday.

The 27-year-old Republic of Ireland striker will miss Sunday's Premier League game against Manchester City at White Hart Lane, the Premier League match away to Portsmouth the following Saturday and the Carling Cup quarter-final away to Manchester City three days later.

Club Secretary John Alexander said on the club’s official website: "The Club has backed Robbie 100 per cent with his appeal and we are disappointed with the verdict.

"The justification for upholding the referee's decision makes no sense to us, and if Robbie had been given an opportunity to attend - the current rules do not give him any opportunity to attend at the hearing of his appeal - we believe that the verdict would have been different.

"It is frustrating for Robbie that he is now forced to miss three games whilst players who committed similar, or in many cases, worse, tackles at the weekend are free to play.

"We shall be writing to the FA to express our concerns."

However a consolation for Tottenham is that Keane will be available for the North London derby against Arsenal on December 22.