Coventry City analysis: Should George Hirst have been sent off?

There was a footnote of controversy to Coventry City’s second league defeat this season, and it surrounded whether Ipswich goalscorer George Hirst should have even been on the pitch when he scored their second in Saturday’s 3-0 win.

Hirst was on a yellow card already when he was adjudged to be offside en route to goal, 35 minutes in.

He still attempted the shot a couple of seconds later, despite the referee’s whistle, yet no second yellow was given for kicking the ball away.

That mattered to Coventry because, a quarter of an hour before that, Josh Eccles had been cautioned for kicking the ball away.

Coventry players rounded on referee Paul Tierney following Hirst’s incident, demanding to know why Eccles was carded and the Ipswich striker wasn’t?

It was a valid question that remains unanswered.

Manager Frank Lampard was keen to stress afterwards this was not the major reason why Coventry suffered the shock defeat. He also said he was not a fan of the punishment, anyway.

But he did feel the rule wasn’t equally applied and that allowed a player to score who should not have been on the pitch, which could have changed the early dynamic of the game in Coventry’s favour.