Coventry City seething over ref justice
THE SENSE of injustice still lingers following what was one of the most bizarre refereeing decisions the Sky Blues have had the misfortune to be on the wrong end of for some considerable time.
Some you win and some you lose, and that is just something we have to accept in football which is open to occasional poor judgment and human error.
The problem with Tuesday night's farcical events that led to Freddy Eastwood having a perfectly good goal disallowed at Ninian Park is that, firstly, the linesman's decision to flag for hand ball against Scott Dann was extremely harsh given that the replay showed there was no ball to hand.
The Coventry captain, who is as honest as the day is long, explained: "The ball came up off my foot and hit my chest and rolled up me and the replay backs that up."
Secondly, it was a case of dreadful communication between match official Roger East, who, to be fair, had not had too bad a game up until that point, and his assistant.
East told City's players at the time that he had waved play on after he thought the linesman had flagged for off-side, thus giving Coventry the advantage.
But after being hounded by angry Cardiff players, who drew the hand ball issue to his attention, he quite legitimately went to consult his assistant who clearly insisted that he felt Dann had handled the ball.
However, he was far from so decisive at the time of the alleged infringement given that he stuck his flag up and then immediately put it down.
Had he been absolutely certain at the time he should surely have waved it about and been more persistent in bringing it to East's attention.
The fact that play was allowed to go on for so long, City to enjoy their celebration and then line-up for the kick-off was ridiculous, and had a damaging effect on morale.
Had the goal stood it may well have had a greater bearing on the final outcome of the game, but that's football for you.
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