Exclusive: Referee hailed over Huddersfield incident despite Birmingham fury
Huddersfield Town midfielder Jonathan Hogg was rightly awarded a yellow card for a challenge on Tomoki Iwata in his side’s defeat to Birmingham City, Keith Hackett has said.
The former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official exclusively told Football Insider there was sufficient evidence that the challenge was “reckless and not serious foul play”.
Chris Davies saw his side take all three points from their trip to the John Smith’s Stadium on Tuesday night (28 January) thanks to a stunning strike from Keshi Anderson.
Many of a Birmingham persuasion were far from happy that Hogg did not see red for his challenge on Iwata, although Hackett is off a different opinion.
Jonathan Hogg avoids red card for challenge of Birmingham man
Iwata only moved to St Andrew’s back in the summer, when he signed permanently from Celtic following a two-year spell where he struggled to consistently hit top form in Scotland.
Having initially impressed for Birmingham, the midfielder only returned after missing a handful of games through injury against the Terriers.
He was though forced off after 76 minutes following a late challenge from Hogg, that saw the Huddersfield man land his right foot on the ankle of the Japan international.
The foul happened directly in front of referee Adam Herczeg who decided only to book Hogg, much to the frustration of the visiting supporters.
Hackett though believes the official was just about right to show a yellow card rather than a red for that tackle on the Birmingham man.
Speaking to Football Insider about that incident, the former referee said:
”The referee is brilliantly positioned with regard to this challenge. The Huddersfield player came very close to a red card.
“Once again we see the landing area on top of the foot lower leg. Because the player who fouled remained in contact with the floor with his left foot there was a degree of control of his movement. He did not launch himself off the ground.
“So close but sufficient evidence to determine that the challenge was reckless (Yellow card) and not Serious Foul Play (Red card). I support the referee on this who was in a great position.”
Birmingham will hope Iwata will be available after that incident when they return to action with a clash against Rotherham United at St Andrew’s on Saturday.
Davies’ side go into that game two points clear at the top of the League One table with two games in hand.
In other news, Birmingham have readied a move to re-sign a former player.
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