Hackett Exclusive: ‘Cardiff have a point’ amid anger over relegation twist vs Stoke
Cardiff City suffered a blow in their battle to avoid relegation from the Championship against Stoke City, and Keith Hackett has given his verdict on the Bluebirds’ frustration about how that happened.
The former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official exclusively told Football Insider that Omer Riza‘s side had a point to argue that the Potters’ winning goal should not have stood due to a handball by Ashley Phillips.
That meeting between the two sides in the Welsh capital on Saturday was a crucial one with both teams looking to avoid the drop into League One for next season.
Cardiff sacked manager Erol Bulut back in September after a poor start to the season, but his former assistant Riza has struggled to turn things around to get them out of trouble.
As a result, defeat to another side fighting to avoid the drop in this clash in Stoke, will go down as a big setback, especially given the circumstances with which it came.
Cardiff City fume over handball in build-up to winning goal
With just five minutes of normal time remaining and the score still locked at 0-0, a long throw in from the visitors was launched into the Cardiff penalty area.
There, Stoke centre-back Phillips, who is on loan from Tottenham, appeared to direct the ball towards goal with his arm.
After it was initially kept out by Bluebirds’ goalkeeper Ethan Horvath, the ball took several more deflections before eventually going in for an own goal by hosts defender Will Fish.
| Championship position | Played | Points |
| 18. Stoke City | 42 | 47 |
| 19. Portsmouth | 42 | 46 |
| 20. Hull City | 41 | 44 |
| 21. Derby County | 42 | 43 |
| 22. Cardiff City | 42 | 42 |
| 23. Luton Town | 42 | 40 |
| 24. Plymouth Argyle | 42 | 40 |
Although Cardiff then protested over the apparent handball by Phillips, referee Michael Salisbury allowed the goal to stand, condeming them to another costly defeat.
Stoke were given a boost with a contentious penalty in their draw with Preston to help keep them clear of the relegation zone the previous week.
Now, Hackett believes Mark Robins’ side were also have had some good fortune in the way their winner came about in the Welsh capital.
‘Stoke City fortunate over winning goal in six-pointer’ – Keith Hackett
After being asked by Football Insider if the hosts had a cause to be frustrated about that winning goal they conceded, the former referee said:
“Cardiff have a point in that the Stoke player clearly controls the ball with his hand arm. Sadly there was no VAR for the referee to have a look at the incident.
“The goal was allowed because frankly given the proximity of surrounding players I do not think either the referee or assistant referee has a view of the incident, Stoke got away with one here.”
Cardiff face a daunting task next up in their battle to avoid relegation as they travel to promotion-chasing Sheffield United on Friday (18 April).
Stoke meanwhile will look to take another step towards securing their safety when they host Sheffield Wednesday on the same day.