By David Parsons
Cardiff City manager Omer Riza plans to appeal the red card handed out to Callum Robinson by replacement referee James Durkin in his side’s 1-1 home draw with Coventry City.
The Bluebirds dominated the first half and opened the scoring within six minutes with a goal from Alex Robertson.
Then, the game was turned on its head within the space of two minutes at the start of the second half.
Firstly, Tatushiro Sakamoto equalised with only 44 seconds of the second half played and a minute later Robinson saw red for making contact with the face of Bobby Thomas as he challenged for a high ball.
“I’m frustrated because we dominated the first half and had good control. My only concern was that we could have punished them a bit more and put the game to bed,” said Riza.
“The goal we conceded was cheap. We got muscled off the ball too easily and it rebounded and they scored.
“Having worked so hard that was disappointing. And then came the red card for Callum Robinson, which I don’t think was a red card offence.
“If anyone thinks that’s a red card then I’m a monkey’s uncle. There was no malice in it at all.
“It was the referee’s first Championship game and I think the moment got to him and he wanted to make a big call.
“I spoke to the officials and told them what I thought. The referee thought he saw it, but when he looks back I think he’ll look at it differently.
“I think we will appeal it and I think it will get overturned. But in the end it was a big point for us.”
RED CARD FOR CARDIFF’S CALLUM ROBINSON! ♦️
— Coventry City (@Coventry_City) January 1, 2025
Despite taking four points out of six in their last two outings, the Bluebirds dropped to 23rd in the table, while Coventry City stayed in 14th.
Their manager, Frank Lampard, was unhappy with the way his side started and then the way they failed to take full advantage of the extra man.
“The first half wasn’t good enough. We were too slow, made too many mistakes, and were simply not at it,” said Lampard.
“At half-time, we spoke about playing the ball forward quicker and the reaction got us the goal. The red card meant we had 40 minutes to win the game.
“I think it was a red card and you’re always grateful for the opportunity to play against 10 men. We created enough to score but we didn’t take those chances and we weren’t effective enough.
“We had the chances to win it. There is a lot to consider, but it’s all part of our story at the moment.
“To be fair to Cardiff, they defend in numbers and made it difficult for us.”
A strong performance from City to start the year with a point, despite being a man down for most of the second half.#CityAsOne | @quinnbet pic.twitter.com/KhY4w7aqDJ
— Cardiff City FC (@CardiffCityFC) January 1, 2025
Lampard’s Coventry made it three games without defeat as they battled back from a goal down to take a point.
Having fallen behind to a sixth minute goal, the visitors scored inside a minute of the re-start in the second half and then had the added bonus of playing with an extra man from the 47th minute when Robinson was sent off.
The Bluebirds came into the game seeking a first home win since 2 November. They hadn’t scored at their Cardiff City Stadium for four hours and 47 minutes since David Turnbull had fired home in the 73rd minute of their 3-1 defeat to Blackburn at the end of November.
The long wait finally ended seven minutes into the game when Robertson guided home a far post header from Cian Ashford.
The goal was made by a great run from Callum O’Dowda from deep inside his own half after he had broken up a Coventry attack.
Lampard’s Sky Blues started badly, often missing the man with their early passes, but picked up the pace after falling a goal behind.
️ “The resilience the players showed in the second half to fight, stay in the game and create big opportunities to score is a credit to them. It’s a big point.”
Watch Omer’s post-match press conference here ⬇️#CityAsOne
— Cardiff City FC (@CardiffCityFC) January 1, 2025
Even so, it was Cardiff who were the more creative and aggressive, enjoying 19 touches in the Coventry box in an excellent first half.
There was a five minute stoppage in proceedings in the 15th minute of the game when match referee Geoff Eltringham stopped play due to an injury to himself.
He was replaced by fourth official James Durkin and the announcer asked if there was a qualified referee in the crowd.
While a fan did volunteer, Eltringham put on his overcoat and took over the fourth official duties.
Coventry’s first shot came in the 31st minute when Josh Eccles forced Jak Alnwick to go down low to save in the home goal.
There was a dramatic start to the second half with Coventry getting back on level terms within 44 seconds of the restart. Rudoni lobbed the ball into the Cardiff box and Ellis Simms beat Jesper Daland to the bouncing ball, flicked it into Alnwick as he was challenged and the ball bounced kindly into the path of Tatsuhiro Sakamoto who hammered it home with his left foot.
A minute later there was a further catastrophe for Cardiff when Robinson backed into Bobby Thomas and caught him across the face with his left arm.
Replacement referee Durkin went straight to his pocket to pull out his red card.
The extra man and space allowed Coventry to dominate and Alnwick did well to beat away a 25 yard free kick from Victor Torp and then had to look smart to deny Ben Sheaf.
Oliver Dovin then had to pull off a great one-handed save to stop Ollie Tanner from regaining the lead for the Bluebirds and from the corner his fellow substitute Yakou Meite rifled a left footed shot inches wide.
