ANGEL Di Maria can thank his lucky stars Michael Oliver was in a good mood at Old Trafford on Monday night because he’d be facing a lengthy ban if I was in charge!

The Manchester United man had already been correctly cautioned for simulation – or diving to use the fans’ phrase – but when he put his hands on the referee it should have been a straight red.

No debate. No appeal. You’re off.

You cannot stand for players putting their hands on an official at any level of the game but because Oliver produced only a second yellow card for the Argentinean, he gets a one-match suspension rather than a much longer one.

There is no case to analyse for the Football Association because the referee dealt with the incident on the field of play but I think Di Maria can consider himself very, very fortunate.

I know of a case down in Sheffield where a player got banned for FIVE YEARS for knocking a ref’s cards out of his hands.

It never happened to me – although players would often use me as an arm-rest if they were tired – but if anyone had laid a finger on me in anger or retaliation, it would have been “off you go”.

I have to praise Oliver for his performance on the night because it was first class.

People criticised him for how he handled himself in the Chelsea v Liverpool game but it looks like he went away, brushed himself down, and came back stronger.

For the first time this season I can say that an official got a proper grip on foul, non-foul and simulation, as Oliver booked both Adnan Januzaj and Di Maria for going down too easily.

I’ve said before it’s a disease in our game and it was great to see someone with the skill and temperament to manage it on such a big occasion.

Oliver is one of the better young referees around and a great talent who should go on to represent his country in the Champions League, the Euros and the World Cup.

But while I can praise his performance, I’m afraid I can’t do the same for Brendan Malone, who took charge of the Wolves v Watford game in the Championship at the weekend.

If anyone gets a chance to see the incident where Bakary Sako is sent off for “pushing” Fernando Forestieri, then take it. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.

There is a little coming together between the two players, Sako puts his hand out, and Forestieri takes two steps back before falling on his backside claiming he’s been shoved.

It was frankly embarrassing and if I was involved at the PFA I’d be writing to the player to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Annoyingly, though, nothing will happen to the Watford player. He’ll get away scot free.

That is why we need a panel of officials in the Football League reviewing these incidents on a Monday morning – allowing action to be taken swiftly and correctly, not dragging it out all week as the gears grind in an antiquated appeals process.

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YOU cannot condone the actions at Villa Park when fans invaded the pitch in Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final – but should the game have been stopped before things got too bad?

When Aston Villa fans flooded on to the field of play in stoppage time referee Anthony Taylor called a halt to play, then let things carry on a couple of minutes later.

For me, he didn’t give stewards enough time to make sure they were in place to stop another pitch invasion, which happened immediately after the final whistle.

A referee is trained for these circumstances and needs to be completely happy that the safety of the players and the match officials is ensured before he lets play continue again.

He is well within his rights to stop the game completely, wait for things to settle down and for the stadium’s safety procedures to kick in. But in my view, Anthony didn’t allow enough time for the stewards to spread completely and that meant more problems were inevitable from certain pockets of supporters.

Thankfully, nothing serious happened and the players, staff and match officials were all able to get off the pitch unscathed. I must admit, though, I’ve never seen an assistant referee move so quickly as the poor lad who was stationed on the opposite touchline to the tunnel. I don’t think he even bothered bringing his flag with him.

Tim Sherwood came out and said emotions were running high and that Villa’s fans hadn’t had much to sing and dance about recently but that’s no excuse.

You want the passion to stay in the English game but we have to make sure everyone’s safety is guaranteed before, during and after a match.