Wright-Phillips deserved early bath as well (From Northwich Guardian)

Rory has no defence

4:49pm Sunday 1st February 2009

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ANYONE who has seen the re-runs of Rory Delap’s tackle and kick at Wright-Phillips during our win over Manchester City can have no doubts – he deserved a red card.

Not only did he go in like a mad thing and catch a fellow professional, he then aimed a kick at him while he was on the floor.

It’s true that Wright-Phillips is lucky on two counts. Firstly that he was not at least spoken to about the incident that provoked Rory’s retaliation.

Wright-Phillips lost the ball and hurled himself into a challenge in a way that could have caused a serious injury.

And amidst the mayhem that followed their altercation, the officials all missed the Manchester City player retaliate with a kick of his own.

Frankly, if I was lying on the ground and someone kicked me I would probably kick him back as well, but that’s not the point.

A deliberate kick of an opponent is a red card offence, so SWP should have followed Delap down the tunnel.

And I am not the only person saying that several heavy challenges before that moment probably caused the anger that led to the sending off.

Maybe the referees committee should take a look at the video and use it in a training exercise on how to prevent matches getting out of hand.

Although to be honest it sure as hell livened up the game.