Quote Originally Posted by Despair View Post
Now that I've actually seen the incident, I can sort of get where the change to ruling is trying to come from.
If that had been outside the area that would have been second yellow, an he's off.
In this case it was inside, so a pen. But it wasn't a blatant hack borne out of stopping a goal scoring opportunity.
Yes we were in the area trying to work an opening, but that may have or may not have proven successful.
So a pen gives us a much more likely opportunity, that's the 'punishment.
On the basis this is not a totally black or white ruling, it does come down though to the ref reading the 'situation' fairly / correctly.
I totally agree, Despair, but there are still some inconsistencies. As you said, what if the penalty is missed? Also, some of the yellow card "offences" are quite trivial. A player could get sent off for two of those, but not get a second yellow for a penalty-area foul which might have prevented a goal.