08 October 2023 , 12:41
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Former England star Ian Wright has slammed referee Emily Heaslip for an "embarrassing" decision to send off Alex Greenwood in the first-half of Manchester City's Women's Super League clash with Chelsea for timewasting.
The City defender was meant to be celebrating her 100th appearance for her club and looked to be doing so as Chloe Kelly fired the hosts into the lead with a sensational strike from range inside the opening 10 minutes.
But the celebration swiftly descended into a nightmare as Greenwood, already in the book for an early foul, was shown a second yellow seven minutes from half-time for apparent time wasting. Greenwood was meant to be taking a free-kick from the City half.
But the 26 seconds between the foul being given and Greenwood’s taking of the free kick was adjudged to be too much for official Emily Heaslip who animatedly raced over to the Lioness and brandished a second yellow card.
Greenwood’s dismissal immediately stirred backlash from City players, with Laia Aleixandri shown a yellow for dissent. And as vociferous boos rained down on Heaslip from City supporters as the official blew up for half-time, new signing Jill Roord was also shown a yellow card for ostensible dissent. The Netherlands international was ushered away from the officials by teammate Chloe Kelly.
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Officials in the WSL, like the Premier League, have been issued new orders to crack down on time wasting and dissent this season. Reacting to the incident, Wright wrote on Twitter : "Embarrassing. They keep telling us about laws of the game but where is common sense! Why would she be wasting time???"
Greenwood's England teammate Beth Mead, who plays for City's rivals Arsenal, also slammed the decision. She wrote on social media: "Awful decision, never time wasting."
Greenwood of Manchester City goes down the tunnel after being sent offGreenwood’s dismissal has also been met with criticism from other high-profile figures too, with commentator Rachel Brown-Finnis declaring “it’s not a black and white decision and I think the official has got that wrong.”
“It’s a poor decision. It’s shocking. It ruins the game," added Fara Williams, the former England Women's midfielder.