Steve Morison believes Joey Barton can have few complaints over his controversial red card, as QPR appeal the decision.

The Queens Park Rangers midfielder was sent off for violent conduct at Loftus Road, after a tussle with Bradley Johnson in the first half of Norwich's 2-1 win in the capital.

The incident led to both Barton – via Twitter – and Rangers manager Neil Warnock brandishing Johnson 'a cheat' having 'conned' referee Neil Swarbrick and his assistant.

Rangers confirmed on Tuesday afternoon they have lodged an appeal against Barton's dismissal, which if successful will overturn their captain's three-game ban.

The FA is yet to decide whether further action will be taken over the comments made by Warnock and Barton.

But for Morison, Swarbrick's decision was correct.

'It was quite a quiet game leading up to their goal, then obviously before half-time there was the incident in the middle of the pitch,' said City's Monday match-winner.

'It happens in football all the time. It was a scenario of things, wasn't it? A little bit of handbags a couple of seconds before and I think the fact Joey has gone towards Bradley initially, shoulder barged him and then gone to put his head there, it makes out like he's the aggressor.

'If the officials have seen that, which they clearly said they did, then it's a sending off.'

Having enjoyed a memorable 2011, victory for Paul Lambert's men at QPR signalled the perfect start to the new year with substitute Morison's seventh goal of the campaign putting him level with Grant Holt at the top of City's scoring charts.

And Morison admitted he is having to step up the rate he converts his goalscoring chances this term, as the Canaries continue to make a success of their jump from the Championship to the Premier League.

'Not at our kind of team you don't (get many chances) – you look at the better teams in the league, their forwards seem to get quite few chances and they put a couple away,' Morison told Talksport.

'Obviously when you're down with the bottom-half teams, you only get one or two chances a game and you have to pick your ratio up and try and put more away than you miss.

'It's OK at the minute. We are in a nice position in he league, a good amount of points, but we're under no illusions that we are only halfway there. There's a long way to go.'

City take a break from Premier League action this weekend with an FA Cup third round visit from Championship outfit Burnley – before top-flight action resumes with a trip to West Brom and the highly anticipated Carrow Road clash with Chelsea.

'You can concentrate on something else for a week (with the FA Cup),' added Morison. 'Obviously it's a big game for both teams because we both want to do well in the competition and it's a nice break from the Premier League, but it'll almost be going back to the hustle and bustle of the Championship in a way.

'You do look forward to those games (such as Chelsea) and I think what we have done this year is gone to those games and place with half a chance of winning. We've given ourselves every opportunity and hopefully in the second half of the season we can turn some of the near misses into points.'