Ipswich Town stand-in skipper Dara O’Shea felt Joao Pedro was lucky to not be sent off after what he saw as a ‘reckless’ challenge on keeper Christian Walton in the Blues’ 2-0 home defeat to Brighton.

The incident which left the former Brighton shot-stopper requiring a medical assessment for concussion before he continued came in the 54th minute with the sides locked at 0-0 with the Blues having had the better of the chances up to that point.

Referee Tony Harrington deemed the challenge, which came as the Brazilian two-capped forward charged down a backpass, jumping into Walton, as punishable with a yellow card with the home crowd clearly feeling it warranted more. VAR checked the incident but agreed with the man in the middle.

But Republic of Ireland international O’Shea said: “I thought it was reckless. I think he knows he’s not getting the ball and he’s just leaving one on him.

“With it being a keeper, he needs to be protected. He’s waiting for him to come and he’s just lining him up and he's taking him out and it’s a cheap one.

“I don't know. You said the VAR looked at it so they’ve obviously done their job, supposedly, so if they don’t think it is, then I’m sure they made the right decision.”

The incident came five minutes before Brighton got themselves in front via Kaoru Mitoma’s 59th minute sweeping finish under Walton and the Seagulls never looked back from that point.

Substitute Georginio Rutter eventually doubled their lead in the 82nd minute when the former Leeds player squeezed a shot on the turn in at the near post following a free-kick, to seal a result which saw Town drop back into the Premier League’s bottom three courtesy of scoring fewer goals than Wolves.

O’Shea, who took over Sam Morsy’s captain’s armband for the second time this season, the first away to Arsenal just after Christmas, felt the Blues were not far away from getting a positive result but believes they need to be braver going forward to get their rewards.

He said: “Not the result we wanted. I thought the game could have went either way today, it was quite 50-50.

“I think whoever scored the first goal today was going to win the game and that was it. I think that was the way the game was.

“The goal they scored was really unfortunate for us and then the second goal a bit the same.

“It’s disappointing for ourselves, but I think in the game there's lots of positives we can take from it.

“We showed a good account of ourselves, played some really good football at times. I think maybe the main message is to be a bit braver at times and go for it and see where that gets us.”

Town now have a quick turnaround ahead of champions Manchester City, who find themselves sixth in the Premier League table after Tuesday’s 2-2 draw at Brentford following back-to-back wins, visiting Portman Road on Sunday (4.30pm, Sky Sports).

But O’Shea and his team-mates will not be getting caught in the trap of being in awe of their opponents as they look to bounce back with a victory.

“It’s a privilege to have a team like them come and play against us,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity for us to show who we are. It’s a game where we're going in to look at the point of a good performance and get three points. It’s the main thing.

“We’re not just setting up to get a draw or to have a respectable scoreline. We need to go out there and try to win the game and get points on the board ourselves.”

Photo: Matchday Images

flykickingbybgunn added 04:37 - Jan 17 Red card all day long. He made no attempt to get the ball. Just went in to do damage and left Walton groggy. Cynical.
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Dissboyitfc added 07:25 - Jan 17 Don't get me wrong, spitting is absolutely disgusting!! But spitting gets a six match ban and that assault on Walton gets a yellow.
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bluesman added 07:27 - Jan 17 It was the turning point of the game. Sending off or no sending off it disrupted us and gave them momentum and aggression.
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oldtimer3 added 07:51 - Jan 17 He had time to pull out of challenge. So it's a red card all day long!
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Alphawhiskey added 08:26 - Jan 17 He knew exactly what he was doing. You could tell by his body language afterwards. He knew could be sent off so was a lucky fella to just get a yellow. Imagine if that was anywhere else on the pitch, would have been a straight red. To be honest I thought the ref was poor. At times i hate this league, Its so corrupt.
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ArnieM added 08:35 - Jan 17 I know one thing for absolute sure. Had that been a Town player taking out the Brighton keeper the ref would have shown the red card in under 2 secs. Where is the justice in this f cuking league??
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tractor_lady added 09:08 - Jan 17 Was a terrible foul but did it change the game, no we were simply not good enough in all areas of the pitch. We were winning nothing in midfield. We had a good patch at the end of the first half but honest truth is Brighton were the better team. Bring on Sunday lets show them what we are really capable of, onwards and upwards
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Len_Brennan added 09:13 - Jan 17 I'm 100% with Dissboy of this one. Spitting at someone, particularly their face, is disgusting, & in a post covid world where we're all more conscious of viral spread etc it has a further impact on an individual than it would have in the 70s & 80s. It should not be tolerated in a football match & rightly result in a red card; beyond that & the 3 matches for an automatic red card, I'm not bothered & it's not going to result in a lenghty injury spell or be career ending. Why is takes precedence over nasty cynical fouls, or flaying arms, that could result in lifelong injuries, I can't understand. Last night's challenge was a straight red for me, regardless of any intention to injury; it was careless & dangerous at best, and Walton is lucky not to have been serious injured, incl. concussion. What message is it sending, for a referee & VAR to say that such a challenge is no worse than a trip or a pull back? Does it give a forward licence to charge into a keeper, even when they know there id no chance of getting to the ball first? Red cards & long bans are for serious foul play that cause or could cause injuries (other than denying a goal), whereas in most cases, a spit will be wiped off & the player who committed it will have revealed himself to the world for the coward he is.

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Dissboyitfc added 09:15 - Jan 17 Yes tractor lady Brighton were the better team and finished the stronger team. However no one can say if that challenge affected the game, perhaps Walton was affected by the challenge would a sending off change it, who knows?
2

tractor_lady added 09:19 - Jan 17 Agree a sending off WOULD have changed the game absolutely and in another game it would have been given a red… my meaning was we need to be better and not look for excuses…
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RIPbobby added 10:10 - Jan 17 I think he got away with one to be honest. I can't be sure if it's a certain red. Another one of those rules where there is too much of a grey area. As I often say the rules need to be defined better. Way too much ambiguity in them. 50% of the time it's red.
1

ipswichone added 10:21 - Jan 17 Looked to me,that he could have pulled out or lowered his arm,was getting a bit fiesty,but delaps booking was a joke.we started deep in defence for 20 minutes,which really was no good.then we played a bit,burns crossing from the right three times,unfortunately he crossed blind,as there was enough Ipswich players to score,just needed to look up.omari did some good runs,but didn't look totally fit.after the Walton clash,they scored.was Walton really not concussed?. Anyway,as soon as they scored,we seemed to have lost ourselves, and that was that.what happened to our brilliant defence against Fulham and Chelsea,and even arsenal.?Manchester city next,then Liverpool.hope our new signing will bring something to the table,as time is running out

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BerksBlue15 added 11:27 - Jan 17 I recognise that times change, but look up van Persie's red card vs Stoke back in the day. Maybe 2008? Stoke keeper (Sorensen??) deliberately baits him to go for the ball, he does, makes contact with less force than Pedro. Immediate red card. If the game has got softer since then, and I think we all agree it has, then how is that straight red then downgraded to only a yellow today? Make it make sense.

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Buryblue78 added 11:37 - Jan 17 Not shown on the highlights was that 2minutes earlier he clearly dived to try and “earn” a penalty which was not given That should have been a yellow and the attack on Walton is clear for all to see When he knows he can’t block the clearance it’s his responsibility to avoid contact with the keeper However Brighton were by far the better team for most of the game without creating many clear chances we started very poorly and spent most of the first 20 minutes in our own third without possession Also after they scored the first goal we played 36 minutes of football without a shot so sadly we got what we deserved Need to be more positive and attack minded to stay up and gain a foothold in this league in my opinion It’s a tough league and we’ve had better days but onwards and upward hopefully

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Bazza8564 added 17:42 - Jan 17 Well ive watched this back a few times and although the collision is really bad, both players leave the ground a fair distance before impact to a point neither can stop the collision. It's really debatable whether thats violent conduct for me, I can see it both ways and ive certainly enjoyed a few of those from Liam this season. What bothers me though is that despite being cleared to continue and not hurt, Walton seemed completely lost after the incident. He made one half decent tip over but just looked as if his mind was elsewhere. Why didnt Muric come on or were these performance issues rather than injury ones? The incident giving the corner away was the most obvious one but CW just seemed completely "gone". Reminded me of the way the 4-4 game at Charlton seemed to affect him.......

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JewellintheTown added 08:10 - Jan 18 He knew he wasn't going to get to the ball first. He knew there was no need to jump & have less control. Jump wasn't for the ball or to avoid the situation. He knew exactly what he was doing & that he was going to clatter late into Walton to slow himself down. Completely intentional, knowing he was going to potentially cause serious damage to Walton. Red any day.

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