Former referees’ chief Keith Hackett has backed Town boss Kieran McKenna’s view that Axel Tuanzebe’s dismissal during the first half of yesterday’s 1-1 draw at Aston Villa was “a really poor red card”.
Tuanzebe was sent off by Merseyside-based official Rob Jones in the 40th minute for a second bookable offence for pulling back Jacob Ramsey just outside the area, but it was his first yellow card earlier in the half which was most controversial with the the DR Congo international, a former Villa loanee, having clearly won the ball as he challenged Morgan Rogers.
Ex-Premier League and FIFA official Hackett, who was also at one time the general manager of the PGMOL, agreed with McKenna’s assessment that the incident wasn't worth a booking, the Blues manager having disputed whether it was even a foul.
"The referee could not have been in a better position to judge this challenge and he could easily have avoided issuing that first yellow card,” he told Villa News.
"Rogers turned Tuanzebe, who got a slight touch of the ball and then made minimum contact with his opponent.
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"Referee Jones was, in my opinion, too quick to pull out his card – a quiet word would have been sufficient.
"Already on a yellow, Tuanzebe’s second challenge was a foul and yellow card offence. Ipswich cannot appeal a yellow card so the player will serve a [one-match] ban.
"It was rather harsh given the circumstances of what I consider to be a cheap first yellow that was avoidable.”
It’s not the first time Hackett has spoken out regarding decisions in Town matches, having previously said that referee Tony Harrington and VAR official Michael Salisbury required "operational advice” for failing to red card Brighton’s Joao Pedro for his challenge on Blues keeper Christian Walton.