From BBC... Wigan are set to appeal to the Football Association to have the red card Fitz Hall received against Watford at Vicarage Road on Wednesday rescinded. The defender was dismissed after just 20 minutes of the 1-1 draw for a lunging tackle on Yohann Cavali. Television replays suggested Hall was unlucky to see referee Rob Styles brandish a red card and Wigan are confident they have a strong case. If the appeal fails, Hall will face a three-match suspension. That could rule him out of crucial games against Manchester City, Fulham and Charlton, provided he is eligible to face Newcastle at the JJB Stadium on Sunday. Could they have spelt Cavalli's name any worse?
He jumped in with two feet. instant red card. They just think that because Ipswich got theirs overturned that they will have a strong case
I watched on TV... the replays showed VERY clearly that Hall had hit the ball before he got to Cavalli and only got to Cavalli because of his impetus and Cavalli running towards him. Cavalli jumped and was probably not actually touched by the tackle and landed astride Hall. The ref did not have a great view (there were two players in the way who may have obstructed his view) and did not have the option of viewing replays. Still, it was a Yellow at worst... Cavalli wasn't even asking for anything other than the throw-in (showing that Hall had gotten to the ball first). Frankly, Hall should have been allowed to play for the second half, if the rules permitted it ! As far as the game went... The start was great, with Watford possibly the better team but good end-to-end play. After Hall was sent off, Watford scored and then seemed to stop bothering to play. This was even before Ben got crocked. They just stood off the Wigan players and gave them all the space they wanted. Even after Ben got crocked, rather than trying to attack all out in order to keep the ball as far away from our injured keeper as possible, we were trying to do short passes out of defence. Even with those short passes, half of them went directly to a Wigan player... my two year old can pass better than that ! And, it was not that Wigan knuckled down and played better with 10 men... they didn't. WE just played worse. The number of times I saw a single Watford player surrounded by three Wigan players was farcical... and it was not because the Wigan players were attacking every ball... Our players were simply avoiding them. I could swear that we only had six players on the pitch. Mackay should have moved into midfield to play 3 - 3 - 4, especially after their scorer was substituted. Instead, we played with 4 defenders and still managed to almost allow Wigan to score with a 2 on 1 break.
I think that the card was a bit harsh, but in all fairness I dint have a great view from the Rookery.
