He may have avoided a red card, but Melbourne Heart’s Curtis Good hasn’t dodged a suspension.
In an A-League first, teenage defender Good was not sent off by referee Ryan Shepheard in his side’s 3-0 loss to Newcastle Jets last week despite picking up two yellow cards.
Good received a second caution late in the match, but Shepheard failed to realise he had booked the player twice and didn’t send him off.
The A-League match review panel put right the referee’s gaffe on Monday, banning Good for the Heart’s clash with Gold Coast United at AAMI Park on Friday night.
“Although the referee failed at that time to issue Good with an indirect red card, this is an administrative error only and does not impact on the consequences of the player accumulating two yellow cards in the same A-League match,” the panel said in a statement.
It adds to the Heart’s problems ahead of their clash with Gold Coast – winless in their past eight matches and already without several key players through injury and Australian under-23 duties.
But captain Fred looks certain to return for the Gold Coast clash after playing 30 minutes with the Heart’s youth team on Sunday to show he was over a groin problem which has sidelined him.
The Heart have not won a game without the Brazilian playmaker this season.
Meanwhile, Central Coast Mariners defender Trent Sainsbury’s controversial red card in last week’s 2-1 loss to the Melbourne Victory was rubber-stamped by the panel.
Mariners coach Graham Arnold felt the straight red card for the youngster for a tackle on Victory’s Fabio had been harsh.
But the panel confirmed the card, and a mandatory one-match ban for Sainsbury.
He will miss their clash with Wellington Phoenix at Bluetongue Stadium on tomorrow.
by Buford Balony
