Description of incident: In the first half, the ref booked Kovac for a foul for pulling back an Aston Villa player. In the second half, Kovac slid in late on Petrov but this time he went unpunished. Moments later, he was substituted by West Ham.
Date of Game: Sunday 17th January 2010
Home Team:
Aston Villa | Away Team:
West HamReferee: Mike Jones | Linesman: Scott Ledger & Stephen Child
Decision Type: Red card | Verdict:
| Decision Difficulty: 2/5Affect on Result: It denied Villa the opportunity of facing 10 men for a significant period of the second half | Winner: West Ham | Loser: Aston Villa
Players Involved: Radoslav Kovac (West Ham) & Stiliyan Petrov (Aston Villa)
Summary: I don't even know how to begin explaining how the referee got this one wrong. For starters, the first yellow card was extremely harsh; I felt Kovac used his body weight well and won the ball cleanly - so a free-kick was harsh & a booking even more so. Yet, once the referee has created this position, the decision to brandish a second yellow, followed by a red to Kovac was a must once the Croat slid in on Petrov early in the second half. He bottled that decision, maybe because he knew the first yellow was harsh. But one thing's for sure, I had to register this as a wrong decision by the referee. Kovac didn't deserve to be sent off, so I suppose the right result was achieved - but as they say, 2 wrongs never make a right.
Cheers,
WB
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