Keith Hackett has called for retrospective action to be taken against Sunderland full-back Trai Hume after his side’s defeat to Coventry City.

The former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official believes the Northern Ireland international deserved more than a booking for a “punch” on Sky Blues midfielder Tatsuhiro Sakamoto.

Frank Lampard has done a remarkable job since taking over as Coventry manager, and that continued on Saturday (15 March) with a 3-0 win over Regis Le Bris‘ side.

It is a result that further damages the automatic promotion hopes of Sunderland and there is a feeling they ought to be dealt another blow with retrospective action against one of their key players.

Trai Hume lashes out at Coventry City ace

Shortly after half time and with Coventry leading 2-0 thanks to a double from Haji Wright, they found themselves looking to extend that advantage from a corner.

Before they could take that set-piece though, a number of individual battles in the box led to Sakamoto being knocked to the ground.

Clips then appeared to show that had happened after he had been punched in the chest by Hume, with the Sunderland man then being shown a yellow card by referee Dean Whitestone.

Hackett though believes that further action needs to be taken, with that current punishment not enough for the severity of his offence, even if authorities are hesitant to overrule on-pitch officials.

Sunderland man faces calls for retrospective punishment

After being asked by Football Insider about whether the FA could take further action against Hume despite the fact the Sunderland man had been booked, the former referee said:

“That’s a red card offence, so there is always the likelihood of the FA coming in. I think there is a reluctance by the Football Association authorities, to re-referee football matches in this type of situation.

“Because they will have the report from the match referee who has only issued a yellow card and they will say ‘that’s his judgement on the field of play and we’ll stay with that’.

“For me I think these are the incidents where that retrospective part of officiating to actually ensure that players don’t do it in the future (is needed).

“He’s fortunate to get away without a red, he’s clearly punched his opponent, therefore that’s a red card offence. He knows what he was doing, I await the outcome of the FA.

“There’s generally a reluctance to re-referee these incidents but I think on this one they need to take a look, because this guy should be banned from the game for doing that.”

Haji Wright would late complete his hat-trick to seal a 3-0 win for Coventry, moving them up to fifth in the Championship table.

Sunderland meanwhile will look to get their promotion push back on track when they host Millwall after the international break.