ALBION boss Chris Hughton has urged Lewis Dunk to cut out some of the cautions which have left his influential central defender facing his second ban of the season.

Dunk will have Christmas off if he is booked at Birmingham today for the tenth time, a tally which incurs an automatic two-match punishment.

Hughton accepts that yellow cards such as the two collected by his sent-off former captain Gordon Greer for Blackburn against Albion on Tuesday night, for routine fouls, are an occupational hazard.

Dunk, meanwhile, was booked for delaying tactics after Rovers reduced their arrears and were in a rush to get the game restarted.

In the previous away game, at Cardiff, he was cautioned for throwing the ball back into the crowd.

Hughton said of Dunk’s yellow peril: “That’s something I’m conscious of. We had it with Anthony (Knockaert). To be fair to him, he stayed on four bookings for about six games.

“He’d learnt. Dunky’s the same. He’s on nine bookings now. The last two have not been tackle orientated. That’s something the has got to learn and that comes with experience.

“There are aspects of his game where I think he has really improved. I think he has improved all-round as a player. That’s just another aspect that he has got to improve on.”

Dunk, who missed a match for five bookings, is on course for a further three-game suspension, the sanction for accumulating 15 yellow cards by the end of the season.

Connor Goldson is on standby to deputise for Dunk over Christmas.

Hughton said: “He trains very well and he’s a very good player. I have no concerns about him coming into the team.

“It doesn’t have to be a suspension. We could have an injury to one of the two (central defenders), Shane (Duffy) or Dunky, and then Connor or Uwe (Huenemeier) have got to come in at that stage.”

Albion have kept ten clean sheets in 17 matches since record signing Duffy joined Dunk at the heart of the defence in August.