Leeds United beat Millwall before the international break with a 2-0 win, but it could have been a smoother ride if Jake Cooper had rightly been sent off for a second booking he was desperately trying to get.
Leeds are top of the Championship on goal difference heading into a busy Easter schedule where they take on Watford and then Hull City in a matter of days.
They moved to top spot just before the break by beating Millwall 2-0 at Elland Road, leapfrogging Leicester City by virtue of +1 goal difference.
Millwall lucky not to see red card in first half v Leeds
Willy Gnonto opened the scoring to give Leeds a deserved lead that day, with chances coming and going either side of that thunderous strike – later Leeds made it 2-0 via Dan James’ back post effort.
However, the first half could have been a lot more comfortable for Leeds if Millwall skipper Jake Cooper had been given a second booking.
Cautioned for a scuffle in the corner with Willy Gnonto, where he refused to shift his 6ft4in frame off of the diminutive Italian, he then elbowed Georginio Rutter off the ball, before hitting Joe Rodon in the chest with a flying knee in the penalty area.
Neither the elbow nor knee were deemed to be worthy of a caution, or even a foul as Cooper lived to see the second half.
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Cooper recalls Leeds v Millwall flashpoints leaping to own defence
The Lions defender has since jumped to his own defence on the matter, thinking he’s actually been hard done by in this game.
He said this (via South London Press):
“I felt a bit harshly done by – I said to the ref as we were walking in at half-time: “You know I have given one little tiny foul away and you are telling me I’m on my last warning here’.
“Obviously they slow-motioned the challenge in the penalty area with Rodon. If they think that is a penalty, fair enough. But that’s never been a penalty.
“The little bit of a scuffle in the corner (with Gnonto), trying to get our fans going. Having that kind of battle mentality we went into the game with – tried to spark that off. It worked to an extent but I still managed to get booked even though I barely did anything.”
Asked whether he meant to roll onto Gnonto and put his entire bodyweight on the Leeds goalscorer, he continued:
“I was just trying to bide my time and wind him up a little bit – like we were the whole team, just to see if they’d react. He did a little bit. It’s one of those gameplaying things – we did it with Norwich at The Den. We were just trying to spark something off – you know what Elland Road is like, you need to have something go in your favour or you’re in big trouble.
“I don’t think the ref was completely fair with us. Chopper said to me at half-time: ‘If you give one more free-kick away then you’re coming off son”. I thought ‘I’ve got to stay away from any trouble here’.
“I’m 29 now and quite good at managing myself on a yellow card – I’ve had nine already so I know what to do.”
Cooper underlining the bias when you’re in the moment here
When you’re in the heat of a game, you obviously are going to think the ref isn’t being fair against you, but he is objectively wrong.
Gnonto is lucky he didn’t react more fiercely or he’d have been off, but Cooper should have walked not only for the elbow being a yellow card offence, but the knee to Rodon’s chest too.
Both are reckless bits of defending and cause for a booking, which would have sent him off – the fact he thinks he made one foul says a lot.
His justification of the Gnonto incident is fair enough though, it’s the sort of tactic most away teams are employing here and you can’t criticise Cooper for trying (nearly succeeding) to get a rise out of our player.