Liam Manning has offered his verdict on Joe Williams’ red card in Bristol City’s draw with Oxford United, admitting the midfielder gave the referee a decision to make with his challenge. However, he did feel Oliver Langford had an “extremely bad” afternoon in the middle.
The Robins extended their unbeaten run in the Championship to three matches in all competitions as they came from behind to draw 1-1 with Gary Rowett’s side at The Kassam Stadium.
United had taken the lead midway through the first half when Gregory Leigh’s shot somehow trickled its way into the bottom corner of Max O’Leary’s net. However, Mark Sykes ensured that the Reds wouldn’t be heading back to the West Country empty-handed when he curled home an excellent right-footed shot into the top corner following a smart set-piece routine.
City had been reduced to 10 men midway through the first half when Williams was sent down the tunnel by Langford following a heavy challenge on Will Vaulks. Although Manning felt the contact was only slight, he admitted that Williams was not blameless.
“I’ve seen it back, a few years ago it’s not being given because it’s minimal contact, but he’s off the ground so it’s one of those,” the Reds head coach told Bristol Live after the full-time whistle. “Ultimately, he half gives the referee the opportunity by being off of the ground but for me, it looked like minimal contact.”
The travelling support were left frustrated by the referee’s decision to send off Williams after he had only cautioned Oxford’s goalscorer Leigh moments earlier for a knee-high tackle on the midfielder.
Having been unhappy with the officials’ performance in the Robins’ 2-2 draw with Sheffield Wednesday last month, Manning was disappointed by the inconsistency that Langford showed, to both sides, throughout Saturday’s contest.
“Players have bad days, staff have bad days, he [the referee] had an extremely bad day just in terms of the inconsistency,” explained the 39-year-old. “I’m not saying it was all on us, I think for both teams he was really poor and just inconsistent. You then create that element where nobody knows where they stand.
“The tackle on Joe and then the one after that, the same a little bit as [Jason] Knighty’s booking and not long before that, Sincs [Armstrong] had rolled [Michal] Helik and it’s exactly the same incident, if not worse, and there’s no yellow card. The same with Ross [McCrorie] getting kicked in the head. That was probably the biggest frustration just the inconsistency.”
Ross McCrorie was also given his marching orders when he received a second yellow card for a heavy challenge on Ciaron Brown late in the contest that, at the time of writing, Manning had not yet managed to have another look at.
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Even when down to nine men for the final exchanges, City managed to hang on and secure an important point with the entire backline and O’Leary making some crucial interventions to keep the home side at bay.
On the whole, Manning was delighted with the grit and determination the Robins displayed to come away from The Kassam Stadium with a point to their name in such difficult circumstances.
“First and foremost, I always look at the behaviours of the players and it kind of epitomises everything you want culturally at the club, which we’ve said from day one,” he said. “The lads showed an element of toughness I thought to play the second half with 10 men.
“The togetherness, the resilience, the way we defended the box, people willing to hurt themselves, running. I thought it kind of epitomised everything you want culturally.”