Sykes’ class is what makes him a marked man

THERE has been quite a hullabaloo since ‘the battle of the Oval’ on Saturday where there were more cards dished out than in a poker tournament.

Most of them revolved around Glenavon’s ace in the pack Mark Sykes, who spent most of his time either being scythed down or picking himself up after a warm welcome from a number of Glentoran players.

So is he a marked man? Probably. Should he be surprised? Nope.

He is probably the most talented player in the Premiership at the minute but that doesn’t mean opponents should just sit back and wonder at his skills. Nor does it mean they should kick the tripe out of him.

Let’s look at the facts. Referee Keith Seeing red: Calum Birney is sent off for his tackle on Mark Sykes

Kennedy didn’t have a great day at the office, the decision to send off John Herron for a 50-50 challenge at worst was nonsense and it set the tone for the rest of the day. No argument with Calum Birney’s sending off, the only debate would be that a red card probably wasn’t enough and a new one should have been created for the challenge — probably a black and blue one.

In fairness to him, he only got the chance to clatter him because Sykes had evaded John McGuigan’s attempt to do just that in a Glens throw back to Claudio Caniggia’s assault by the Cameroon team in the 1990 World Cup. What is it about teams in green and red when they see blonde-haired attackers?

The handbags at the end between Willie Garrett and Rhys Marshall, after Sykes was upended yet again, were just that, and with them both on yellow cards, it was daft to get involved.

And so a game that wasn’t dirty ended up with four red and 10 yellow cards and more finger-pointing, name-calling and calls for this, that and the other.

“He’s a quality player and obviously opposition managers and teams are seeing that,” said team-mate Andy Hall.

“They’re trying any way to stop him. You see some of his touches and some of his play and you’re in awe.”

Will it mean Sykes won’t be targeted again? Of course not, he just has to punish them in the best possible way, with his skills and goals.