Pundit Dean Ashton criticised Gaetano Berardi after he was sent off against Derby last night as Leeds United's promotion dream ended.
The experienced defender was perhaps harshly cautioned after Mason Mount went down in the second half but he then launched himself at Bradley Johnson just nine minutes later which was a clear yellow card.
That left Anthony Taylor with no choice but to send him off and it left the Whites with a real battle to win the tie, with the score 3-3 on aggregate at the time.
Derby capitalised with the one-man advantage, with Jack Marriott scoring the winner with five minutes to go.
And, Ashton told Wednesday night's EFL on Quest show that it was a significant mistake from Berardi.
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"It’s not the first time in these playoffs that we’ve seen ill-discipline. He’s probably a bit unfortunate in this sense [for the first yellow] because Mount does brilliantly in committing defenders, and he just gets that wrong side. He actually doesn’t do a lot, but he clips his heels and you get a yellow card for that.
"[On the second] That’s just ill-discipline, that’s just purely going in for a challenge you do not need to make. You’re on top against Derby, and your defender goes and does that and actually the goal comes from his side – that’s where Marriott scored from."
The Verdict
This was a completely stupid moment from Berardi and Ashton is exactly right with what he says and you could argue he should've been harsher on the defender.
He is experienced enough to know better and doing a challenge like that on a yellow card was ridiculous.
Leeds were back in the game at the time and had settled down after a crazy spell, so it really has cost them.
Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.
Watch highlights of every EFL play-off final on Quest, with dedicated shows for each league starting from Saturday 25th May. Also available live and on demand at questod.co.uk and via the QuestOD app
Watch last night’s show here: https://www.questod.co.uk/show/efl-on-quest/video/league-2-playoff-final/EHD_265928C