Bamford was charged by the FA earlier this week
Leeds United will be without Partick Bamford for their next two games after the striker was suspended with immediate effect by the Football Association.
Bamford was charged with ‘successful deception of a match official’ earlier in the week, in relation to an incident with Aston Villa’s Anwar El Ghazi during Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Elland Road.
El Ghazi was sent off for allegedly elbowing Bamford in the aftermath of Leeds’ opening goal. However, in announcing the Leeds’ player’s charge, the FA also announced El Ghazi’s red card had been rescinded.
Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds side face a trip to Ipswich Town on Sunday before trying to secure promotion back to the Premier League for the first time in 15 years via the play-offs.
Their faint hopes of securing an automatic promotion spot ended with the draw to Villa, which confirmed Sheffield United’s return to the top flight.
Bamford will miss the game with Ipswich at Portman Road and, more importantly, the first leg of Leeds’ play-off semi-final.
Leeds responded to the news of Bamford’s suspension via a statement.
‘The club felt that given the circumstances surrounding the incident, including the extraordinary act of sportsmanship which saw our head coach Marcelo Bielsa demand our team to allow Aston Villa to score an uncontested equaliser, we could have a sensible discussion around the sanction,’ the statement read.
‘We acknowledge that the FA panel did not feel that to be reasonable and the club therefore joins Patrick in accepting the two-match ban.’
