Dermot Gallagher reacts to contentious incident in Portsmouth draw v Luton Town
Dermot Gallagher has backed the referee’s decision to send off Thomas Kaminski as Portsmouth and Luton Town played out a 0-0 draw.
Luton goalkeeper Kaminski was issued two yellow cards in the space of three first-half minutes in Saturday’s (17 August) contest at Fratton Park.
The first of those was for time-wasting, and the second for fouling Paddy Lane outside the penalty area.
While Luton boss Rob Edwards was particularly unimpressed with the reasoning behind the first caution, Gallagher insists it was the right call.
Speaking on Sky Sports News [19 August, 11:51am], the ex-Premier League referee said: “He had the ball for nearly 30 seconds before being shown the card. He can’t complain.”
Luton Town can have no complaints with red card
Kaminski’s red card was his first in English football and defined the contest at Fratton Park, with Luton playing a large part of the contest a man light.
While the keeper may not intentionally have been wasting time as such, he kept hold of the ball for far too long and the referee had no choice.
His challenge on Lane soon after was just a moment of madness and, again, there can be absolutely no complaints.
The big question on reflection is whether Pompey could have done more to claim a victory against their 10-man opponents?
Ultimately, though, a point against a side that was in the Premier League three months ago is not the worst outcome.
That is now draws against Leeds United and Luton to start the season, which will hopefully provide a springboard to truly push on.
In other Portsmouth news, the club’s final Championship position has been predicted by a supercomputer.
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