Newcastle have appealed against Fabricio Coloccini's red card in Sunday's derby defeat at Sunderland.

The Magpies captain was dismissed just before half-time after fouling Steven Fletcher, an incident which led to Adam Johnson opening the scoring from the penalty spot in the Wearsiders' 3-0 win.

A statement from the Magpies on Monday morning read: "Newcastle United have lodged an appeal with the Football Association for the wrongful dismissal of Fabricio Coloccini during Sunday's Tyne-Wear derby match against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

"Coloccini was given a straight red card by referee Robert Madley in first half injury time following an incident involving Steven Fletcher, which resulted in the awarding of a penalty kick.

"The appeal will be heard by a Regulatory Commission tomorrow afternoon and the club will be notified of the result shortly afterwards.

"Should the dismissal stand, United's captain will miss Saturday's Barclays Premier League fixture with Stoke City at St James' Park."

Argentinian defender Coloccini leaned heavily on Fletcher as the Sunderland striker sought to get on the end of a Jermain Defoe through-ball just before half-time.

Steve McClaren criticized Madley after the incident, which did his team few favors in their unsuccessful attempt to avoid a sixth successive derby defeat to their fierce rivals.

The Newcastle boss said: "It's simple: he is wrong in my opinion.

"Referees are part and parcel of the game and you control your performance – you can't control the opponent or the referee and they can affect the result. And they have done today – not so much the opponent, but definitely the referee.

"I have seen lots of challenges like that in the game, in every game and, outside the box, they are never given. It's a double whammy – a penalty and 10 men. It made it very difficult.

"We need an experienced referee for this and I think he was a little too quick to make a decision."

Another defender, Daryl Janmaat, called the decision "crazy".

He said: "I think we were by far the better team in the first half, and then we get a red card like this – it was unbelievable.

"I don't like to blame referees, but that was not a penalty. I think everybody saw it and a red card is crazy, in my opinion.

"It kills the game. I don't like excuses, but I think we had 70 per cent possession in the first half and were far better than them. In the second half, we lost the game with 10 men.

"It's disappointing because in the first half, we played well."

Asked if the incident should have resulted in either a penalty or a red card, Janmaat said: "I don't think so. I think it was nothing. It's a contact sport."

If Newcastle felt hard done by, there was an acknowledgement too that they had failed to make the most of the early pressure they exerted with Sunderland never really in it until the penalty incident.

Coloccini, Jack Colback and Georginio Wijnaldum had all forced saves from Costel Pantilimon, who later kept them in front with a vital stop from Aleksandar Mitrovic, before Billy Jones and Fletcher got the goals which put the game beyond the Magpies.

Janmaat added: "We had some good chances and we needed to score. We were far better. That's what's so disappointing. We didn't deserve it."

The Magpies slipped back to 19th place in the table on goal difference as Sunderland leapfrogged them – with both clubs having collected just six points from their opening 10 games.