Hughton sees red over ‘offside winner’ as Warnock gets lucky

THESE are the type of contests Neil Warnock lives for. In his 100th game in charge of Cardiff, there was thunder, fury and, of course, a last-gasp controversial winner.

It came courtesy of Sol Bamba, possibly the most relieved man in Wales. After being at fault for Brighton’s opener, he made amends in the 90th minute.

Yet Chris Hughton left the Cardiff City Stadium feeling the officiating was nowhere near Premier League standard. In some instances, the Brighton manager was right. In others, less so.

First, referee Martin Atkinson sent Dale Stephens off in the 34th minute. Cardiff felt it was a shinsplitting, studs-showing shocker of a challenge. Brighton argued there was little-to-no contact.

Then, after holding firm for an hour with 10 men, they conceded a goal that included an offside in the build-up. It was that which condemned them to this defeat.

Even as Bamba wheeled away in celebration, he whipped off his shirt and was shown no card. For Brighton, that summed up the afternoon for the officials.

Of the two, it was the second controversy which left Hughton particularly perplexed. ‘I understand the sending-off, some would’ve given that, some wouldn’t,’ he began. ‘The winning goal… that was offside. It is not a difficult decision to make. For me, I am more angered by the second decision than the first.’

Warnock, in his usual jovial way, did not give a damn. You win some, you lose some, as far as he is concerned. This time, lady luck was on his side, just as his other half predicted.

‘My wife doesn’t read tea leaves but she did tell me two weeks ago, last Thursday, that my luck is going to change,’ Warnock said. ‘We have no chance [of staying up] according to the bookies but the lads are giving me everything.’

The match changed as soon as the red card was produced. The debate will rumble on but in reality, Stephens slid in on Greg Cunningham and did so dangerously. He was out of control and Atkinson rightly went by the letter of the law.

The reason Brighton feel so strongly about it is because they knew how big a game this was. As striker Glenn Murray said beforehand: ‘It’s plain to see we are both relegation candidates.’

Within six minutes, they had the lead. Solly March whipped in a cross and Lewis Dunk headed home after Bamba had lost his man at the back.

Then in the 28th minute, Cardiff made it 1-1. A clever run by Kadeem Harris led to a cross which deflected off Gaetan Bong to give Callum Paterson a tap-in. Shortly afterwards came Stephens’s dangerous challenge.

After the break, Cardiff threw it all at Brighton. They shook the bar through Harris and Sean Morrison broke a nose when trying to win a header in the box.

Then, the winner. Bamba attempted an overhead kick which bounced back off the bar before Paterson’s rebound was cleared off the line by Dunk.

Yet Bamba had another bite of the cherry. This time, he smashed the ball beyond Maty Ryan. Replays, however, showed he had been offside in the build-up.