CARDIFF NEWCASTLE NEIL GETS IT SPOT ON

Keeper Etheridge saves to give Warnock his first point

NEIL WARNOCK has not often been accused of bringing poetry to the football field, but the Cardiff City manager is well versed in controversial endings. “Poetic justice” was how the Yorkshireman described the 95th-minute penalty miss by Kenedy that ensured these two sides finished with a point apiece – their first of the season. Warnock (left) admitted he had not seen the Newcastle winger’s wild hack at Victor Camarasa in the first half – a juvenile playground tantrum that was somehow missed by referee Craig Pawson and his assistants. But the penalty struck by the Brazilian in injury time was so desperately poor that it was almost as if he was overcome by shame at the prospect of being an undeserving hero.

“It would have been devastating to lose at that stage, but it was quite poetic justice, I thought,” said Warnock, whose team were unable to take advantage after Isaac Hayden was sent off in the 66th minute.

“My dad used to say, ‘What goes around, comes around’, so I think that was poetic justice, the penalty miss.

“I never even saw that Kenedy should have been sent off in the first half. Like the referee, I looked away and missed it. The fourth official saw it to give a foul, but it was one of those things.”

Nor did Warnock think the penalty decision – given for handball as his skipper Sean Morrison tried to block Yoshinori Muto’s cross – was on the right side of the justice scales, either.

“I think his arm was very close to being outside the box, his body is inside the box, but it was a hairline. But I’ve no complaints if you put your hand up.”

It was a dramatic ending to an enthralling game that pulsed with energy and incident, even if the quality was low.

It had the odour of an earlyseason relegation battle, but the