Boss Chris Hughton has branded Albion striker Florin Andone's ban as a "big blow".

The Romanian started a three-match suspenson with last night's home defeat by Burnley.

He was retrospectively punished by the FA for violent conduct after catching West Brom's Sam Field in the face with an elbow in Wednesday's FA Cup win.

Hughton, asked about Andone, said: "A big blow. We appealed. Our feeling on the incident was the action that he did was an action a lot of strikers do and he does it very regularly, where you are protecting yourself and the ball.

"You will see that action every weekend. The unfortunate thing was he caught him and we are also not saying the lad made a meal of it, because it was there to see. But there was certainly no intent in doing it."

Andone also misses Saturday's FA Cup fifth round tie at home to Derby and the February 26 Premier League trip to Leicester.