Former FIFA referee Keith Hackett has claimed that referee Leigh Doughty could have possibly avoided sending off Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Brice Samba.
The 27-year-old was given his marching orders against Stoke on Saturday. He struck Phil Jagielka with the ball in play and the Potters were awarded a penalty.
Forest managed to get out of the game with a 2-2 draw but it was referee Doughty who took centre stage throughout the contest.
Samba was dismissed at a time when three substitutes had been used. That meant that Joe Worrall finished the game between the posts for the Reds.
Hackett is under no illusions that Doughty made the right call but he’s explained how it could have been prevented with a more proactive approach.
He told Football Insider: “It’s a red card 100 per cent.
“The referee had taken the right course of action.
“As a referee, if you see a forward challenging a goalkeeper in that situation, instead of running away to take up a position at the halfway line you run towards the incident.
“Could you avoid it? The answer is yes, it was avoidable. If the referee manages the situation better he could have prevented it.”
Lesson: Samba will learn from Forest error
The goalkeeper has taken a battering from some supporters in the aftermath of Saturday. Ultimately, Ruan Yates did bail him out and his mistake means he will miss three games.
Samba must learn from his moment of madness. It was foolish and although he does live on the edge, it was still a very silly thing to do.
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As for the refereeing, Hackett is right. There is a sense that a lot of the Championship referees are a bit like robots, with common sense firmly out of the window.
Despite that, Samba was in the wrong but Hackett’s comments do offer some food for thought.
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