Haven forward Karl Olstrom will miss his side's crunch clash with derby rivals Workington Town after his suspension was upheld.

Whitehaven had appealed the two-match ban, handed out to Olstrom for punching against Oxford in the Challenge Cup, but a disciplinary panel rejected the plea on Tuesday night.

The winter signing served the first game of his suspension last weekend against Coventry but will now have to sit out the Good Friday tie too.

And coach Carl Forster is frustrated with the inconsistencies in the disciplinary panel, which mean he will be without a "massive" player for an important game.

"It's disappointing," he said. "It's hard to make anything of it when the disciplinary panel is so inconsistent. The reasons behind why it was upheld are not right.

"They said it was down to his previous record, he's been banned for four times in the last two years and it shows he doesn't learn.

"But when I see Danny Brough get a one-match ban for starting a mass brawl it makes no sense, there's a different panel for different decisions."

Brough admitted a Grade B charge of punching, the same as Olstrom, at a hearing and was given a one-match suspension and £300 fine.

On Olstrom, Forster said: "I can understand he has a record but at the end of the day they were two little scraps. He now misses out on two potential win bonuses and gets a fine as well, that's important to part time players. The game has gone a bit soft."

The forward has played just twice for Whitehaven since joining from Workington in the winter as he carried a six match ban over from last season.

After looking at a video recording of the Oxford incident, the match review panel decided that Olstrom had punched an opponent and would be charged. Siddons did not face a charge as the sin-binning was ruled sufficient punishment.

He also carried a six-game ban into this campaign after being punished for assaulting a match official in a game against Sheffield Eagles while playing for Workington last year.

But he was able to make his club debut against Toronto and impressed in Haven's 46-14 win over Oxford.

Forster said: "He'll be a massive miss, we've seen how important he is in the games he's played. I'm just as devastated as him, there's a better chance of us winning with him playing.

"My forward pack probably won't change from last week, no one had a bad game."

Shackley, Newton, Riley, McAvoy, Holliday, Forster lined up for Haven against Coventry last Sunday. Good Friday's tie at Derwent Park kicks off at 3pm.