Leeds left-back Ian Harte today pleaded his innocence after recently being charged with misconduct by the Football Association following an alleged stamp on Tottenham defender Chris Perry. Harte was handed a separate misconduct rap at the end of a volatile game in which an 18-man bust-up led to both sides being charged by the FA with failure to control their players. The incident was sparked by Lee Bowyer's sliding challenge into the chest of Stephen Clemence early into the second half, and was the major flashpoint of an ill-tempered match which Leeds eventually won 1-0. With Leeds and Harte both having requested personal hearings, the Republic of Ireland international is hoping his name will be cleared by any forthcoming disciplinary panel.
"Hopefully I'm okay on it," said Harte, who was one of the goalscorers in the Republic's 3-2 win over the Czech Republic at Lansdowne Road last night. " I'll go in front of the board, and I've nothing to worry about because what happened was blown out of proportion on telly. I didn't mean to do it. It obviously looks bad, but I jumped in the air and tried to jump over him and ended up coming down on him. " He added, "I think if you ask Chris Perry, did I come down on him hard enough I'm sure he'll say no. So I'll just go down and wait and see what they have to say."
