The relegation battle game between Queens Park Rangers and Wigan Athletic took a nasty turn very early in the contest.
It was supposed to be an easy throw in for Wigan in the 19th minute, and Shaun Maloney tried to play it quickly to his teammate, Jordi Gomez. QPR’s Bobby Zamora came flying in unexpectedly, his left foot flying towards Gomez’s head.
Gomez dropped to the ground and referee Phil Dowd met with the other referees while the Wigan midfielder was tended to. Dowd broke the meeting, instructed Zamora to come towards him, and then pulled the red card out of his pocket.
QPR were forced to play the game with 10 men for over 70 minutes, which nipped them in the but when Maloney’s free kick smoked past the goal line to equalize in the final minute of play.
Zamora looked shocked, but the reasons for his dismissal were self-evident. This was no Nani challenge on Raúl Albiol, where the decision was questioned immediately. There is no reason for a player to ever have his foot that high, and Zamora paid the price for his egregious mistake.
(Photo Courtesy of Sky Sports, Video Courtesy of goalshighlights.com)
