Ince sent off again

Paul Ince was sent off for the second time within 16 days as Internazionale scraped into the third round of the Uefa Cup in Austria on Tuesday.

Ince was sent off in the fifth minute of extra time in Inter's second- round second-leg tie against Casino Graz in Kapfenberg, which the Italian Serie A side eventually won on penalties after the tie finished level at 1-1 after the extra period.

Ince was booked in the 62nd minute for arguing with the French referee, Gilles Veissiere, and was then given his marching orders for another yellow card, following a heavy foul on Dieter Ramusch.

The dismissal came just over two weeks after he was sent off in a Serie A match against Piacenza on 13 October. On that occasion Ince was sent off for felling Gianpietro Piovani while waiting for a corner, after his opponent had made racial insults against him.

The 29-year-old England midfielder was originally given a two-match ban, which was reduced to one game following a successful appeal backed up by television film which showed that Piovani had strongly over-reacted.

While Ince was cast as the villain of the night, Inter's goalkeeper, Gianluca Pagliuca, kept his cool in the penalty shoot-out. The Austrians, who had lost the first leg 1-0 in Milan, wiped out that deficit in the 35th minute when Herfried Sabitzer levelled the tie from the penalty spot, but Pagliuca later made the decisive spot-kick save from Erwin Dampfhofer.

It was the second time that an English international had been sent off in Kapfenberg's little stadium, which normally plays host to an Austrian non-League side. Two years ago, Robbie Fowler saw red there while playing for England's Under-21 side.