How can you book him for this?
Cash is punished for his message to Kyiv
JOHN BROOKS was following the rules, sure, but sometimes you wish referees would just read the room.
Matty Cash scored for Aston Villa then revealed an undershirt with a message: ‘Tomasz Kedziora and family. Stay strong my bro.’
Kedziora is Cash’s team-mate for Poland, currently playing for Dynamo Kyiv. It was a message to a friend in a perilous situation in the Ukrainian capital. A nice moment.
And yet, Cash was booked for the crime of removing his shirt and dedicating his strike to Kedziora. Brooks will get a tick from PGMOL boss Mike Riley for following the letter of the law, I’m sure, but few would have minded had he given the Villa right back a pass.
Worth remembering, too, that world governing body FIFA previously told its associations that the application of the laws is ‘left for the competitions’ organisers, which should use common sense and have in consideration the context surrounding the events’.
That was after Jadon Sancho, then of Borussia Dortmund, was booked for revealing a ‘Justice for George Floyd’ undershirt in a Bundesliga game in May 2020.
The PGMOL may want to rethink their position in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine because more tributes such as Cash’s may follow. ‘This yellow card is on us,’ Villa boss Steven Gerrard said afterwards, not wanting to have a pop at the referee or Premier League. ‘There’s no finger pointing. I should have mentioned to the players but I didn’t. That’s on me, that one. Not Matty.’
Cash was one of nine cards shown in this game with Brooks a fan of the colour yellow. It was a competitive clash and Villa emerged victorious with Ollie Watkins completing the scoreline in the second half after a Tyrone Mings long ball caught out the Brighton back line.
Gerrard’s Villa tenure started with a 2-0 win over Graham Potter’s side back on November 20.
The honeymoon was short-lived, however. Since then, wins had been hard to come by. Here was a side Villa knew they could beat, at least, although the match didn’t get off to the best of starts.
Villa arrived late at the Amex Stadium due to bad traffic, meaning kick off was pushed back to 3.30pm. Yet once the game got going, they scored with their first shot on target. Lucas Digne crossed the ball and Brighton cleared, but only to Cash. He chested it down then struck a sublime shot that went in off the post, beating Robert Sanchez before his celebration which saw him booked.
Brighton could have equalised after the restart when Neal Maupay set up Alexis Mac Allister. With all of the goal to hit, he struck the crossbar and it flew into the away end. There were cheeky challenges flying in, with the referee not in control of the game. Brooks, new to the Premier League’s list of referees, needed to calm the players.
When Watkins caught Marc Cucurella in the face, Brighton were furious. Brooks showed him a yellow, and also gave one to Mings after he sprinted the length of the pitch to mock Cucurella for rolling around.
At the start of the second half, Villa would have made it 2-0 were it not for Sanchez’s right hand. Phillipe Coutinho’s free kick was struck sweetly and heading into the bottom corner, until the Brighton goalkeeper got there.
Brooks still didn’t have control of proceedings as Joel Veltman became the eighth player to be booked for a naughty challenge on Coutinho on the hour mark.
In the 68th minute, a ball lumped long by Mings caught the Brighton defence sleeping. It flew over Veltman’s head and sent Watkins through as he beat Sanchez to make it 2-0.
Yellow card No 9 came along when Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez took part in some timewasting as the visitors closed in on their first win since January.
Brighton’s fans left frustrated. They’ve now not scored for three successive games and it’s not going to plan for Potter.
Gerrard praised his Aston Villa players for coping with the kick-off delay and get back to winning ways. ‘It’s always important when you’re going through a sticky patch that you stay together and that you keep believing,’ Gerrard said. ‘If you believe that you are doing the right things, it’ll only be a matter of time before it changes.
‘The preparations were challenging because of a crash on the motorway but the players remained focused and calm and we could only control being patient and staying focused. The players delivered a top performance.’
BRIGHTON (4-4-1-1): Sanchez 6; Lamptey 6, Veltman 5, Dunk 5, Cucurella 5; March 5, Moder 5 (Welbeck 63min, 5.5), Bissouma 5, Mac Allister 5.5; Trossard 5; Maupay 6. Booked: Cucurella, Trossard, Bissouma, Veltman. Subs (not used): Steele, Gross, Alzate, Duffy, Caicedo, Leonard, Offiah, Ferguson. ASTON VILLA (4-3-3): Martinez 7; Cash 8, Konsa 7, Mings 7.5, Digne 7.5; McGinn 7, Luiz 7 (Sanson 72, 6), Ramsey 7; Watkins 7.5, Ings 7 (Young 79), Coutinho 7 (Iroegbunam 86). Booked: Cash, Luiz, Mings, Watkins, Martinez. Subs (not used): Buendia, Chambers, Olsen, Hause, Bailey, O’Reilly. Referee: J Brooks (Leicestershire) 4.