Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
A SARR IS TORN
Ivic demands ‘more protection’ for his bruised winger
ISMAILA SARR stormed down the tunnel without any handshakes after being kicked from pillar to post against Bournemouth.
Referee Tim Robinson’s failure to send off Lloyd Kelly for a shocking challenge on Sarr in just the second minute gave the Cherries a licence to kick and run.
And when Kelly was not even punished with a foul for grabbing a handful of Sarr’s shirt and pushing him to the ground just outside the box, Hornets fans were convinced two different sets of laws were being applied. The hosts felt a rash of VAR injustices shafted them last season , which ended in relegation from the Premier League.
But they were pining for nitpickers in a bunker at Stockley Park after Robinson bottled it in a feisty game littered with dubious decisions and record-signing Sarr’s face like thunder on the final whistle told its own story.
Wa t f o r d h e a d coach Vladimir Ivic says Sarr needs more protection and called for officials to apply more “logic” to key incidents.
He said: “Sarr uses a lot of pace and they cannot catch him, so they react how they react. It doesn’t matter which club he plays for, we need to protect this type of player.”
To suggest England Under21 international Kelly should have been cut a bit of slack because his studs-up, abovethe-knee lunge came so early in the game cuts no ice at Vicarage Road. Five years ago, in another top-of-the-table Championship shootout with t h e C h e r r i e s , Wa t f o r d defender Gabriele Angella was controversially sent off after just 26 seconds at Dean Court.
Angella’s red card was rescinded later, but Watford lost 2-0 and were pipped to the title by Bournemouth. In fairness to Kelly, he didn’t duck the issue afterwards and said: “The ball was there for me to win and I kind of lunged in – which normally I wouldn’t do – and caught him.
“Some might say it was a red card, some might say it was a yellow, but I know it wasn’t the finest tackle and I know I can do better.”
Wa t f o r d ’s sense of grievance was not helped by Kelly inadvertently providing the assist for Wales defender Chris Mepham’s stoppagetime equaliser (celebrating with Cherries boss Jason Tindall, below), after Stipe Perica’s first goal for the Hornets put the home side in front.
Kelly grinned: “It was a shot, but I sliced across it, and luckily Meps was there to tap it in.
“The boys dug deep – we weren’t at our best in the first half but, after the break, we came out with a different mentality and made sure we were more front-footed.” WATFORD: Foster 7, Kabasele 7, Troost-ekong 6, Cathcart 8, Ngakia 5, Cleverley 6 (Quina, 64, 7), Garner 5 (Capoue, 46, 7), Chalobah 6, Sema 6; Perica 6 (Pedro, 81), Sarr 7. BOURNEMOUTH: Begovic 7, S Cook 6, Kelly 5, Mepham 8, Stacey 6, Lerma 5 (Solanke, 18, 6), L Cook 7, Billing 7, Rico 6 (Riquelme 85), Danjuma 6 (Stanislas 73, 5), King 7