Click to enlarge, and debate the strip below the line.
Keith Hackett’s verdict
1) Quickly intervene and make sure your assistant is acting to cool the situation down. You need to have some serious words with this childish winger. If the ball makes accidental contact with you or your colleagues during the game, play continues as normal – and that’s the case here, too. So ask him to get the ball and get on with the game, and if he refuses, book him for dissent. Thanks to Kevin Barlow.
2) That the incident took place behind the goalline, and when play was not live, does not alter how you deal with it: you need to caution the goalkeeper, who has deliberately delayed the restart, for an act of unsporting behaviour. If the trip was violent, then you would have to send him off. Restart with the kick-off as normal, and add on any additional time necessary. Michael Steel wins the shirt.
3) There’s nothing you can do about the fans, but you can certainly have a word with opponents and the opposition captain. If this devious, bullying use of foul language continues, you should start showing yellow or red cards, and include it all in your post-match report. The debutant’s manager will have to deal with the player’s state of mind – and they might want to look at a replacement shirt in future which won’t crease quite so readily. Thanks to Josh Isaacs.
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