Kenedy’s penalty miss was poetic justice, claims Warnock
CARDIFF CITY 0 NEWCASTLE UNITED 0
Cardiff City manager Neil Warnock described Kenedy’s stoppagetime penalty miss for Newcastle as “poetic justice’’ after the Brazilian escaped a possible firsthalf red card in their draw. Kenedy wasted the chance to give 10-man Newcastle the three points in the sixth minute of injury time, with his weak attempt pushed out by Cardiff goalkeeper Neil Etheridge. The keeper has now saved penalties in his first two Premier League games, after also denying Bournemouth from the spot on the opening weekend. But Warnock suggested Kenedy was lucky to be on the pitch after appearing to kick out at Cardiff ’s Spanish midfielder Victor Camarasa in the 33rd minute. The incident was not spotted by referee Craig Pawson and his fellow officials and the Brazilian forward, on loan from Chelsea, faces the prospect of trial by video and a possible threematch ban. But Warnock said: “It would have been devastating to lose at that stage. But my dad used to say: ‘what goes around, comes around’, so I think the penalty miss was poetic justice. “There’s never a dull moment here. “I thought it was a good 0-0 and I’m quite pleased with the whole afternoon apart from not scoring. “I’m really proud to be manager of the whole club today. This is what we’ve worked hard to do and we’re not going to give it up without a fight.’’ Cardiff were on top when Newcastle substitute Isaac Hayden was shown a straight red card after 65 minutes. Pawson deemed Hayden’s tackle on Josh Murphy from behind as dangerous and the referee made another huge call seconds from the end to punish Cardiff captain Sean Morrison for handball. Etheridge’s penalty stop was his second in successive games after saving one in the opening game at Bournemouth.
“I think his arm was close to being outside the box,’’ said Warnock. “His body is inside the box, but it was a hairline. “But no complaints if you put your hand up.’’ Newcastle manager Rafael Benitez admitted he was unhappy after losing right-back Javier Manquillo to injury and seeing his replacement Hayden sent off. The problems in that department came on the back of Newcastle losing first-choice right-back DeAndre Yedlin to a knee injury against Tottenham Hotspur on the opening weekend of the season. “There were too many things that I didn’t like during that game,’’ said Benitez. “There were too many decisions that can go in your favour or against you. “They say there was a tackle on Manquillo. “In the end, I don’t think we can complain about the referee.’’ On a match which saw both sides collect their first points of the season, Benitez added: “It was a very strange game. “We knew it was going to be physical and a difficult afternoon. “We put ourselves under pressure and made too many mistakes. “The effort was there, but I was disappointed overall.’’