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Red that ruined a sporting contest
"SERIOUS sport has nothing to do with fair play," George Orwell once wrote. "It is bound-up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard for all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence."
He was right - yesterday's derby at Hillsborough truly was war minus the shooting - which made referee Mike Dean's decision to punish two of the afternoon's most innocuous incidents with red cards totally baffling.
Matthew Kilgallon and Jermaine Johnson were the players on the receiving end, ensuring that both Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday finished the game with a sending-off apiece.
But it was Kilgallon's which was the turning point of this fixture, leaving the visitors at a numerical disadvatage for the majority of the match, and also the major talking point afterwards.
Twenty-eight fast and frenetic minutes had passed when Dean overreacted to his challenge on Sean McAllister that appeared worthy of a caution at best.
But the Wirral official, to the disbelief of those around him, thought otherwise and deemed Kilgallon's high foot to be worthy of even greater sanction and dispatched him to the stands.
Against opponents unbeaten at home in the league this season it left United with a mountain to climb.
They came within touching distance of the summit - Gary Speed missing a glorious opportunity to equalise late on after Paddy Kenny had saved Marcus Tudgay's second-half penalty.
But an ecstatic Wednesday held on to climb above their rivals in the table and claim the Steel City bragging rights for the next four months.
Kevin Blackwell, United's manager, had invested a great deal of time, energy and emotion into this fixture but, come the final whistle, was left with nothing but hollow, empty pride.
"Sorry gentleman," he said, placing his feet deliberately on the press room table during the post-match inquest. "That's a sending-off so I've got to go."
Thankfully Blackwell stayed around to elaborate further but his gesture was worth a thousand words.
Reid, who until then had displayed pretty sound judgement, had got things horribly wrong.
"That was a fanny's tackle and he (Kilgallon) has gone for it," an incredulous Blackwell continued. "If you get dismissed for that then we might as well all pack up and go home.
"I wouldn't have liked to have seen him (Dean) referee one of the old derbies if that's the case."
Blackwell's sense of frustration will have been heightened by the sight of other, apparently more serious incidents, being allowed to pass as these great rivals tore into each other with abandon.
Gary Naysmith and Johnson, who received his second yellow card for petulantly kicking a water bottle after being substituted 22 minutes from time, exchanged shoves as United attempted to wrestle the early momentum back from Brian Laws' side while Chris Morgan and Akpo Sodje indulged in some pantomime jousting at the death.
In between, Brian Howard, making his first start for United since signing on loan from Barnsley, was caught by a stray arm while Kyle Naughton, their outstanding performer, was fortunate to escape serious injury after being scythed down by Johnson soon after the interval.
Even Laws, having secured his second victory over United in less than a year, was moved to sympathise with his counterpart.
Theatrically jabbing his shoe on the touchline may have convinced Dean that Kilgallon had to go but, when the emotion of the occasion subsided, he was generous enough to admit: "We were close to it and it looked a yellow. In fact I was worried he was going to even things up and we spoke about that in the dressing room."
The pity, from a neutral's perspective at least, was that Reid's error overshadowed the commitment and courage of the players.
Laws, marvelling at the "thunder" and "heart" on display, inspired his troops to make another superb start which was capped by a delightful strike from the magnificent Steve Watson.
The former Aston Villa and Everton veteran was a tour de force in midfield and seized his opportunity to pounce following Kenny's mis-judgement from a Mark Beever's cross; lobbing the ball delicately over the Republic of Ireland's head and into an empty net.
Across the touchline, Blackwell should be encouraged by the response Watson's intervention provoked.
If the first 45 minutes belonged decisively to Wednesday then the second stanza was United's.
When Kenny redeemed himself after Speed tripped James O'Connor, they looked the more threatening with James Beattie also going close.
"I've got no complaints about the lads, they were spirited and I was proud of how they came back," Blackwell said.
Laws countered: "We had to have passion and we put our bodies in the way when we needed too,"
Hopefully Dean won't have been feeling quite so satisfied when he reviewed his own performance on the long drive home.
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Weather for Sheffield
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: East
