Rotherham boss baffled by controversial red card for Fred Onyedinma in draw against Blackburn

Rotherham boss Matt Taylor was left baffled by a controversial red card for Fred Onyedinma in the 2-2 draw against Blackburn on Saturday.

Onyedinma recieved marching orders just minutes after he doubled Rotherham’s lead in the second half of the Championship clash.

The decision to hand otu two yellow cards in as many minutes from referee Bobby Madley angered much of the home support and confused Taylor, who also was see kicking a bottle in frustration.

The decision turned the game around and left the Millers holding on to a draw against Rovers.

In the game, Sammie Szmodics had also missed a first-half penalty and was at fault for the hosts’ opener before scoring a second half brace to grab a point for his side .

Fred Onyedinma puts Rotherham 2-0 up in the 48th minute, gets booked for the celebration.

Moments later he’s fouled, asks for a card, and Bobby Madley proceeds to show him his second yellow and send him off.

And Rotherham then draw 2-2…
📹 @Dec_Martin7 pic.twitter.com/i3EhsAmLZE

— Edward Walker (@edward_w97) August 12, 2023

“The first yellow is my biggest frustration. We go 2-0 up, it’s Fred’s first goal and there is emotion. He gets pushed into the crowd by his team-mates celebrating,” Taylor said.

“Football is going in a strange direction right now. I know they are trying to make it a better product, but I would argue that it isn’t right now.

“I thought we went through every emotion known to man. We went from jubilation and then a few minutes later Fred gets sent off. At least we got something out of the game.

“I have not enjoyed the first two games of the season. I have seen a whole host of yellow cards for very little.

“We can go through every single moment of the game with frustration. We are gutted we did not take more from that game.”

Matt Taylor kicks a water bottle as he reacts to Fred Onyedinma being sent off

Never seen manager so angry #rufc pic.twitter.com/W5azZiN1Gp

— Hancok 🇪🇪 (@San_Pers) August 12, 2023

“I don’t know what is happening with our game”

“People won’t come to watch that”

Matt Taylor on the Fred Onyedinma red card today for #RUFC. I agree with him.pic.twitter.com/ESl81cB2zL

— Rob Staton (@robstaton) August 12, 2023

Blackburn head coach Jon Dahl Tomasson said: “It was a bit of a rollercoaster but entertaining for the fans.

“I think the fans will be disappointed we didn’t come away with three points.

“We did not do enough of the right things in the first half. If we score that penalty then it would be a different game.

“I was not happy with the first half. But I must give all my credit to the lads. They got a well-deserved first and second goal.

“I stopped counting the number of chances we created. Rotherham did really, really well and defended with great spirit. So credit to them.

“Sammie is a great lad. You know anyone can miss a penalty. You have people with different characters. Some who want to then come and sit on the bench, but he scored two goals.”

🗣️ “𝘿𝙞𝙨𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙛. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙙𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙜𝙖𝙢𝙚.”

JDT’s take on a rollercoaster afternoon in Rotherham.#ROTvROV | #Rovers 🔵⚪ pic.twitter.com/BoWtlRtNb1

— Blackburn Rovers (@Rovers) August 12, 2023

Here’s how fans reacted with the Rotherham boss baffled by the controversial red card for Fred Onyedinma in the draw against Blackburn…

@JosephDoddy: Even the Blackburn defender is looking around confused!

@JoeByronbrfc: Ridiculous tbf. Couldn’t even tell you what he got the first booking for. We should not need to be playing against 10 men to start playing some football

@wenuwood: Unbelievable 🤦🏻‍♀️

@kaaatex: and that’s after blackburns number 8 screamed and shouted in his face after getting booked in first half .. no punishment given 😂 it’s a joke 🤯

@kevjohnson77: What the fuck am I seeing here…..

@adawri81: @FA_PGMOL Wheres the consistency with these ridiculous new rules. @BMadley has been absolutely awful today, AGAIN, and been far from consistent. His poor decisions have influenced the outcome of that game. Horrendous officiating.

@mattH12002: Shouldn’t have asked for the card then should he. The amount of rotherham fans I heard after the game saying “HoW mUcH ArE U pAyIng ReF” was unbelievable. If they had learned to keep their mouth shut rotherham win that game pretty comfortably imo. Mongs😂👍

@DavidFoster550: Listened to the interview on the way home Rob and I thought MT was very restrained in his answers. Would have loved to have heard what Warnock or Evans would have said. Totally agree with what you’re saying also.

@nicky_hannon: Can guarantee somewhere in the country this season someone will invade the pitch and likely assault one of the officials. It’s bound to happen if this carries on. The rule changes are a good idea, but common sense needs to applied and not overkill it like they are doing

@PaulWallingford: Seriously, 4 hour train ride for me and I’m not one to complain about refs BUT today was a complete joke. Absolutely cruising at 2-0 and then Madley steps up.

 

@dannybezza86: Players all been told this season if they wave the imaginary card it’s a yellow card to them for unsporting behaviour. Refs spot on. Reading player did it against Vale today and ref let it go. This is where we need consistent reffing

@joeleigh95: Suspect refereeing that 😂 I’d be raging if I was a Rotherham fan.

@JackHall7362: Small bald men who fucking buzz off power. Seems like Rotherham are being forced out the Champ

@HuggerV2: Amount of fans whinging about the booking for this 🤦‍♂️ Italian does it vs England & everyone bays for blood. Moral of the story, don’t be a dick when on a booking

@mcurrie95: Every week you see commentators and Twitter folk moaning about lads waving imaginary cards. People start getting booked for it (rightly so) and all of a sudden there’s uproar 🤯🫣 First yellow looked like the one to moan about

@cal_howis: Madley added on nearly ten minutes of added on time in the second half and he caused every single minute of it.

@AGardener108: @FA_PGMOL @efl Absolutely this. Our goalscorer is pushed towards the stand by his team mates why didn’t he book all of them. You will drive fans away. You’re ruining the game. #rufc