The Tigers were 3-1 winners at The Den on Saturday and led 2-0 when the hosts were reduced to 10 men
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher and ex-Cardiff City striker Jay Bothroyd both agreed that Femi Azeez was rightly sent off for a stamp on Kyle Joseph.
The Millwall star was given a straight red card by referee Gavin Ward for an off-the-ball incident 14 minutes from time, after Joseph had raced back to make a fine tackle on the 24-year-old, who had netted six goals in his previous nine games before the visit of Sergej Jakirovic’s Tigers.
Referee Ward had continued to move up with play as City had ventured into the Lions’ half, before he was alerted to the incident by the assistant who had spotted what happened.
Azeez was given his marching orders, much to the frustration of Millwall boss Alex Neil. The Scotsman had felt Liam Millar should have been sent off for a second yellow card after kicking the ball away, and was himself cautioned by Ward.
Both Gallagher and Bothroyd praised the work of the officials, and said that in their view, Azeez was rightly dismissed with cameras capturing his petulant kick on goalscorer Joseph.
“What you would say, in the last couple of weeks we’ve seen some real good teamwork. We saw at Plymouth last week. We saw here that Gavin Ward can’t see that. We see that he’s gone up and followed the ball upfield,” Gallagher said on Sky Sports.
“It is a red card offence. Somebody’s alerted him to it, whether it be the fourth official or the assistant, but between them they’ve got it right.
“I agree with that, and that’s the way the game should be played with the official,” Bothroyd added. “It’s a team game for them. They’re a team, they’re not working individually. The referee’s spoken to the fourth official or the linesman or whoever it may be, and they’ve come to that decision, which is the right decision.”
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