12th April 2004: A valuable point
was earned at Millwall in a game that could've been a real spectacle
but ended in farce thanks to an inconsistent and incompetent refereeing
performance.
Wise committed a dreadful foul on Clement but was unpunished; Dichio
and Moore kicked lumps out of each other all game and Dichio was the
only one booked, and that was for dissent; Koumas committed two innocuous
if mistimed tackles and somehow found himself with a red card. And
the piece de resistance, Gaardsoe's sending off, which could
potentially be the most serious should he receive a three match ban,
was just bizarre. I saw no contact outside the area and just a normal
aerial challenge when the ball was in the box. Maybe I missed something,
but everyone seemed bemused.
Millwall, and Dichio in particular, were obviously wound up for this
game and there was a series of niggling challenges that could've got
to Koumas. He should know better if that is the case, but to be honest
I saw no malice in either challenge.
But a point was welcome, particularly with Sunderland losing. Norwich
won giving them daylight at the top once again, but they've got some
tough games to play. Suspensions from today should kick in for the
game at Reading, so the Gaard might miss his Viking tribute, but hopefully
the promotion issue will be sewn up by then.
It's the big one next week.
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