Cardiff City Anger At McPhail Treatment

Cardiff City are unhappy with the red card shown to midfielder Stephen McPhail during the 1-0 Carling Cup defeat away at Swansea City.


McPhail was dismissed for a second yellow card, picked up just moments after he had been warned, with ref Alan Riley also calling captain Darren Purse over regarding McPhail’s persistent fouling.


McPhail immediately slid in on Jordi Gomez, but appeared to get the ball before making contact with the player. Replays confirmed that McPhail got most of the ball but you had to question the rationale of committing such a tackle, under the nose of the referee just moments after being warned.


McPhail told BBC Sport:


‘I didn’t expect the red card because I thought it was a good tackle, but I feared the worst when I heard the whistle.’

‘I’ve watched it again and I got a lot of the ball, but that’s the way it goes.’

‘The referee’s made the decision and it’s disappointing, to miss a game will be frustrating.’



Dave Jones also spoke out in defence of the player, stating it was not a second yellow card. However, he did concede that he should perhaps have withdrawn McPhail earlier. As the dismissal was for two bookable defences, Cardiff City are not eligible to appeal the sending off and McPhail picks up an automatic one match ban.