Villa manager Martin O’Neill has pledged to make a personal apology to the Peace Cup’s organisers after being sent to the stands in the win over Atlante.

He received his marching orders after shoving the ball into the chest of an Atlante player on the touchline, 35 minutes into the 3-1 success.

O’Neill revealed he was still seething from demands made by the fourth official earlier in the game that Stiliyan Petrov remove the captain’s armband, despite having just suffered a dislocated shoulder.

His anger reached boiling point when Atlante’s players tried to get Ashley Young booked.

But he made no excuses for the behaviour which followed and vowed to apologise to Peace Cup chairman Dr Chung Hwan Kwak.

The manager said: “I would want to personally apologise to Dr Kwak. I hope I haven’t let him down.

“It was rather silly. I shouldn’t be getting involved. I apologise obviously for being forceful with the ball into the lad’s chest.

“I was upset but you’ve got to keep cool.”