by Royal Rob »
01 Jan 2008 17:57
PieEater There is no last man rule, the sending off was for denying a goalscoring opportunity. If he got the man before the ball then he should have gone.
The rule is you must deny the player a CLEAR goalscoring opportunity. This should be interpreted as meaning on a balance of probabilities the attacker can be expected to score (51 percent of the time).
Today all that was denied was a "goalscoring opportunity". The red card was harsh but increasingly this is the way the rule has been applied. The Villa red card v Chelsea is another classic example of this situation. Harsh, but Sonko has only got himself to blame.