Referee David Coote may well have made a big mistake in the most recent Wolves game for not sending Joel Ward off for a second bookable offence.
In the latest round of midweek Premier League fixtures, the managerless club travelled down to London to face Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in a tightly contested affair.
Wolves actually took the lead thanks to Adama Traore’s first-half header. However, the Eagles responded after the break with goals from Eberechi Eze and Wilfried Zaha which were enough to settle the match 2-1 in their favour.
The game could have been very different though, had Ward been handed a red card when he slid in late with his studs up on goalkeeper Jose Sa while already on a yellow card.
TIF thoughts on the challenge and Wolves…
Ward had been booked earlier on in the game and so he certainly took a big risk when he went in to try and win this ball. Although he had every right to make the challenge, the image shows his studs were raised and he didn’t get their first and so the referee could have easily penalised the defender further.
However, seeing as it certainly wasn’t a bad enough challenge to earn a straight red card, VAR could not get involved to ask the referee to reconsider his initial verdict.
Considering the game was all level at the time of the challenge, and that Palace then went on to score a winner through Zaha, Wolves fans would have every right to feel a little frustrated that the decision didn’t go their way. Indeed, had Ward been sent off, they might have more than just nine points to their name in the Premier League right now.