Luton boss Rob Edwards admitted he would have probably been sent off had he focused on the ‘strange’ refereeing decisions made by Gavin Ward rather than then game itself during yesterday’s 2-1 over Sheffield Wednesday at Kenilworth Road.
The official, who has never endeared himself to the Hatters faithful over the years with some questionable displays, plumbed new depths with a performance that can only described quite simply as atrocious throughout the 90 minutes. He set his stall out in the early stages with some odd calls, before one of the worst when Tahith Chong slid in to toepoke the ball to team-mate Alfie Doughty, catching his man in the follow through, Ward somehow whistling for a foul against the home midfielder.
He then further enraged the home supporters as Chong was barged over himself when looking to latch on to a throw-in, Ward giving nothing, Luton’s goalkeeping coach Kevin Pilkington shown a yellow card for his protestations on the sidelines. When Ward whistled for a foul against Elijah Adebayo for an off the ball incident, the atmosphere threatened to boil over, before Luton were awarded a free kick of their own, which saw the referee given a near 30-second standing ovation from the home supporters.
Booed off by the home supporters as he made his way down the tunnel at half time, Ward continued his baffling display in the second period, waving appeals away when Jordan Clark was clearly shoulder charged. With Luton trailing 1-0 to Barry Bannan’s volley, the referee began to even things up, as he booked two visiting players, Di’Shon Bernard and Svante Ingelsson, before taking centre stage once more with 75 minutes gone.
After Bernard blocked Teden Mengi’s shot, the Owls defender used his shoulder to repel Mark McGuinness’s follow-up header, earning him a straight red, Carlton Morris tucking away the spotkick. Late on, Ward, who was by now making offside calls himself, Town eventually won the contest with two minutes left, Morris tucking home.
Asked about the efforts of the referee, Edwards, who hadn’t been that animated himself throughout the fixture, often taking his seat in the dug-out, said: “I tried to sit down and remove myself from that today as well and really, really zoom into the game. I was pretty pleased I did that as I would probably have got sent off today, I think there were some strange decisions.”
Owls boss Danny Rohl was also left incredibly disgruntled by what he had witnessed, as speaking to BBC Radio Sheffield, he added: “Last week there was a 50/50 decision against us, today a 50/50 decision against us, but at the end we had three or four opportunities where we could score more and take a win – when you have two goals away it’s helpful to have two goals and be clinical.
“But all in all I can’t say much against my team, they invested and I think the supporters recognise this today. I think these are always 50/50, but when I look to our box at the corner we have Dish (Bernard) two times going down and there is nothing, then it’s a little bit hard to take. The players on the pitch should decide the game, and not someone else, and this is a pity today.”
