Ally McCoist slams referee Chris Kavanagh over red card in West Ham loss v Chelsea
Ally McCoist has hit out at the decision to send Fabian Balbuena off as West Ham lost 1-0 to Chelsea on Saturday evening.
The match was a tepid affair until Timo Werner’s 43rd-minute goal and the game sprung into life after the interval, but proceedings were tainted by a huge call by referee Chris Kavanagh in the 81st minute.
After VAR told him to take another look at Balbuena’s challenge on Ben Chilwell, Kavanagh handed the Irons defender a straight red card to effectively kill off the game for the home side at the London Stadium.
Speaking on talkSPORT Breakfast with Laura Woods [06:00, 26/04/21] a couple of days after the event, McCoist was in no mood to forget about Kavanagh’s actions.
“I thought it was a shocking decision, I really did,” he said.
“As soon as the referee went over I’m saying to myself ‘He’s going to send him off here’, I just had a horrible feeling in my stomach that he was going to send him off.
“Moyes said in his interview after the game these decisions are getting made by people who haven’t really played the game, or don’t really understand the game but are just looking at a rule.
“It’s wrong, that for me is what is totally wrong.”
Unanimous
It’s hard to find anyone who loves or even has a passing interest in football that doesn’t share McCoist’s viewpoints.
Pundits have come out in force to utterly condemn the decision to send Balbuena off on Saturday so at least we have some backing behind us for this one.
Will that help our cause in overturning his suspension? Well it worked when Mike Dean sent Tomas Soucek off at Fulham in February.
That was another incident that left onlookers bewildered, and luckily the pressure proved pivotal as Soucek’s ban was lifted.
Balbuena doesn’t possess quite the same importance to our side that the Czech does, but that’s not the point.
This is about trying to stop referees from continuing to ruin games with baffling decisions after challenges that are purely natural and not malicious in their intent.
We won’t hold our breath that justice will be served again, though.
In other West Ham news, Irons in hunt to sign ‘Incredible’ £20m-rated ace from cash-strapped side, player wants PL move.
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