SURE as eggs is eggs, Walsall appealed the red card handed to Joe Edwards yesterday afternoon. If only Wanderers had that option.

There is no question that the Saddlers midfielder made contact with Chris Taylor with his elbow as he jumped for the ball just yards from the referee.

From the replay angle, I am fairly certain he didn’t look at the Wanderers player at all. In that respect he was unlucky to get a straight red.

But compare that incident to the two pathetic yellow cards issued to Keshi Anderson and Edwards looks as guilty as sin.

Everyone in the Main Stand at the Banks’s Stadium could see the fourth official ushering the striker on to the field. With the exuberance of youth, he bounded on trying to make a difference.

The man coming off, Chris Taylor, had only just begun his jog to the near touchline from the opposite wing.

It was a simple bit of miscommunication. No harm done and certainly no advantage gained for Wanderers having 12 men on the pitch for 10 seconds with play completely stopped.

Why then issue Anderson with a yellow card? Where is the common sense?

Referee Trevor Kettle set himself up for a fall by being over-officious. He might have impressed the assessors in the stand with his to-the-letter use of the rules but once again it shows how the humanity has been leeched out of refereeing, much to its detriment.

I feared for Anderson from there on in. He charged in on keeper Neil Etheridge in the final few minutes and I wondered if Kettle would reach for his pocket once again.

But when the youngster committed the softest of fouls on the half way line on 94 minutes – handing him a second yellow at that point was sheer lunacy.

 

WE all knew Jay Spearing’s presence would be missed at Walsall – and so it proved.

Wanderers won’t come up against many keepers in the kind of form Neil Etheridge displayed on Saturday but their defeat at the Banks’s Stadium was a bit more complicated than that.

The game was all about missed opportunities but the lack of urgency shown in the first half was perhaps the biggest one. When the home side went down to 10 men after just 15 minutes, the proverbial screw should have been turned. Instead, a soft goal was conceded and too much first-half football ended up being played on half way, where it could do no damage.

For a good half an hour the Saddlers were able to settle and defend their lead – with the Whites’ football becoming a bit too simplistic, allowing centre-halves Kevin Toner and James O’Connor to pick off most of the high balls.

Wanderers got the message and improved after the break. Phil Parkinson made the right substitutions and couldn’t have done much more from the bench. But had Spearing been present in midfield during the first half, and not kicking his heels through suspension, I think it would have been a different story.

The stand-in skipper has done a fine job marshalling the midfield this season, has looked positive on the ball.

Parkinson is already missing his two most dynamic midfielders in Darren Pratley and Mark Davies, so to have a third out of commission was a telling blow.