The English Football League (EFL) have released a new statement on the abandoned Championship match between Blackburn Rovers and Ipswich Town at the weekend. Saturday’s match at Ewood Park was halted by heavy rain and ultimately abandoned by the referee 10 minutes from full-time because the waterlogged pitch was deemed an unplayable surface. It remains to be seen whether it will be counted as a completed match and the points awarded to Blackburn, who led 1-0 against the 10-man Tractor Boys at the time, or if it will resume from the 80th minute or even be replayed in its entirety.
The EFL issued an update at 1pm on Wednesday, with a statement that read: “Following the abandonment of the Sky Bet Championship fixture between Blackburn Rovers and Ipswich Town, the two clubs were given a deadline of 4pm today to make any final representations to the league. Once in receipt of the submissions, the matter will be discussed by the EFL Board before the end of this week, with outcome to be confirmed shortly thereafter.”
Blackburn Rovers boss Valerian Ismael believes his team should be awarded the three points despite their pitch being unable to handle the rain. Todd Cantwell’s penalty had put the hosts 1-0 up while Ipswich saw Jacob Greaves sent off early in the second half.
Blackburn want the result to stand, given the state of the match and the amount of time that was played before it was abandoned. However, Ipswich argue a replay is fairer because it could have been stopped earlier, and an abundance of stoppage time would have offered them a chance to rescue a draw.
Ismael told Rovers TV: “It’s clear that when you are 1-0 up, down to ten men for the opponent, we’ve got the momentum… yes on one hand they can score a goal, but on the other hand we have the possibility to score as well. We faced this situation against Norwich, we were down to 10 but we were pushing, the feeling then was we can score, but we conceded a goal and we lost 2-0.
“I think for us we’ve got the right to want the three points in that situation because I think it’s the fair thing to do, especially when the opponent is down to ten. 11v11 is another situation, but this situation was clear, we were in a clear advantage. The statistics, the data, everything shows that we were on the front foot since the red card.”
Rovers boss Ismael also rejected suggestions that he agreed for the match to be abandoned, arguing he was never consulted. “It was chaotic after the game,” he added. “We had to accept the decision. The referee abandoned the game. So we go from there. We are waiting now for the decision.
“We made our points on the situation. We prepared our case to say, at that point, we were the pushing team, we were on the front foot. So we expected that we get the reward because I think this is the fair thing to do.
“But apart from that, one thing from my side has to be really clear. I saw a report from the EFL at the end of the game and I never agreed to stop the game. So I had no choice because the referee made clear that he had to abandon the game.
“The pitch was unplayable and he said sorry and the EFL will make the decision. So I never had to agree to anything because the decision was made. So I think this is a clear point to make from our position. We never agreed anything.
“It’s difficult to know what the outcome will be. But everyone has to take this case very seriously – it will be a precedent case for sure.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk