Read today that top ex-referee Keith Hackett took the officials to task after they missed a nailed on penalty (his words) when Ethan Laird was brought down early on. He exonerates referee James Linington to an extent but is really critical of his linesman. Had we scored that penalty we could well have gone on to notch a record score and I believe that we would have so poor were Cardiff. Here's the piece from WOL:
Referee James Linington will have been left fuming at his assistant after missing a 'nailed-on' Swansea City penalty in Sunday's South Wales derby win over Cardiff City, according to former Premier League referee Keith Hackett.
The Swans ran riot on a largely comfortably afternoon, earning a 3-0 win over their bitter rivals at the Swansea.com Stadium.
However, there were strong suggestions that the hosts should have had an early penalty when Ethan Laird was brought down inside the box by Curtis Nelson inside the opening three minutes.
Hackett says Linington's assistant should have spotted the incident, and says the Isle of Wight official will have been angered by his colleague's failure to act.
He told
Football Insider : "That was a nailed-on penalty kick.
“On this occasion, he [Linington] needs a bit of luck. He’s in proximity but he’s got two players blocking his view.
“Instead of going left so the space can open up for him, in a way that a player would for a pass, what he’s done is, he’s almost gone static and has been caught out.
“He’s looking around two players and has no chance of making a major decision so he’s at fault.
“The fallback position has to be the assistant referee. In fairness, he looks at the assistant referee who gives him absolutely nothing.
“I would be quite brutal there. I’d say ‘I don’t want to work with that assistant anymore, he’s let me down big time’.
"The assistant has got a good view looking in, we had that camera angle.
“In defence of the referee, he parked it and got on with the game and refereed quite well for the rest of the game.”
I have to wonder if any action will be taken against that so-called assistant referee. Incompetents like him often decide the result of games because of their own limitations. That non-decision was an absolute disgrace and, in my opinion, officials with that low level of ability should be drummed out of the game.