Mike Dean reacts to Aston Villa controversy v Ipswich live on Sky Sports
Aston Villa and Ipswich Town played out a highly entertaining 1-1 draw on Saturday which was littered with pivotal moments.
Villa were forced into a response after going 1-0 down to the 10-man Tractor Boys through Liam Delap in the second half, but Unai Emery’s side could well have taken the lead very early on themselves.
In just the second minute of the game, Morgan Rogers ran through to knock the ball beyond Alex Palmer in the box, going down under pressure after the keeper raced off his line.
Rogers hit the deck and, along with all four sides of Villa Park, demanded a penalty, but after the referee and VAR replays both adjudicated there was next to no contact, play continued with no spot-kick given.
Mike Dean weighs in on Aston Villa v Ipswich controversy
Speaking live on Sky Sports News‘ Soccer Saturday (15 February, 3:08pm), former Premier League referee Mike Dean was asked about the incident, but agreed with the decision not to penalise Palmer.
“It depends which way the referee blows the whistle”, he said. “There’s a slight push from Greaves into the attacker, who goes into the goalkeeper and he tries to pull his hand away.
“For me, the correct decision was to play on and VAR agreed with the referee.”
Aston Villa miss chance to capitalise v Ipswich Town
Despite coming back to earn a point through Ollie Watkins‘ close-range finish, Villa will certainly feel that it’s two points dropped, given their dominance for large swathes of their contest with the Tractor Boys.
Ipswich having 10 men for more than half the match will certainly contribute towards that sentiment, but it all could have been so different had the hosts been given that second-minute penalty.
Palmer likely wouldn’t have been sent off even if he’d made enough contact on Rogers to warrant a spot-kick, but Villa having the vast majority of the match to see out a 1-0 advantage would’ve been welcome.
Saves aplenty were made thereafter by the former West Brom stopper, but there’s no guarantees he would have saved from 12 yards against Watkins, who beat him from close range in the second half.
Villa were really forced to toil for their equaliser and weren’t able to find a winner after finding it, but had they been 1-0 up in the opening moments, who knows what kind of scoreline they couldv’e racked up.