Liverpool 2, Wolves 0: Andy Walker's big match verdict
Dec 28 2009 by Andy Walker, Birmingham Mail
MAY the fourth be with you! Well, according to Mick McCarthy, that wasn’t the case for Wolves at Anfield on Boxing Day – the fourth official that is.
The man who holds up the board for stoppage time, splits up punch-ups between opposing managers and makes sure that players aren’t wearing inappropriate jewellery.
However, does the fourth official (Phil Dowd the man in question on this occasion) have the power to influence a referee’s decision via those sci-fi-style ear pieces?
Wolves boss McCarthy hinted that to be the case at Anfield, following the farcical scenes that led up to Stephen Ward’s sending-off.
There wasn’t a shadow of a doubt that Ward was the man who brushed Liverpool’s Lucas to the ground in the 51st minute and, although it was harsh, the fact he was already on a booking for an earlier needless tug on Yossi Benayoun’s shirt meant he was highly likely to be taking an early bath.
But it was what followed which shone the light on the role of the fourth official.
Referee Andre Marriner bizarrely opted to book Christophe Berra, who had simply cleared the ball into touch following Ward’s faint shoulder barge. If Berra’s smirk as he walked away upon realising he may have deflected his team-mate’s punishment wasn’t enough to show Marriner that he’d dropped a clanger, then the sight of Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina dashing 80 yards to express himself would have been.
After plenty of ear-piece pressing and a chat with his assistant on the near side, Marriner eventually cleared up the case of mistaken identity and booked the right man.
However, at the same time there had also been plenty of ear-piece pressing from Dowd following protests from Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez and Co in the dugout.
So did Dowd pass Marriner the message that Benitez wasn’t best pleased? McCarthy seemed to think so, as a sarcastic applause in the Spaniard’s direction suggested.
There’s no doubt the incident was a major turning point in Liverpool’s favour.
While the Reds enjoyed the better chances, held greater possession and applied the most pressure, at 0-0 resolute Wolves, in their recent form, could have easily nabbed a point.
Marcus Hahnemann was in point-saving form between the sticks while the centre-half partnership of Berra and Jody Craddock were equal to anything that Liverpool threw at them.
The loss of Ward blew a hole in Wolves’ backline at a time when Liverpool were in the ascendency.
McCarthy was in the process of tactically re-jigging things but it came too little, too late. He later admitted that the introduction of Michael Mancienne into central midfield was designed to stop the very rampaging run from Steven Gerrard that the England star had made seconds earlier to open the scoring.
