Why can’t refs also be substituted?

LONDON: In the end, the draw was the fair result. Leicester scored, referee Jonathan Moss equalised for West Ham. Then West Ham went ahead, and Moss pulled one back on Leicester’s behalf.

You can’t say he was inconsistent, being equally random for both teams. All flippancy aside, however, it was a thoroughly unsatisfactory afternoon.

Moss did not get it all wrong, but he made massive calls seemingly on a whim. His display was so poor, in fact, that he at one time contrived to be wrong, even when he was right.

Going into second-half added time, about the best that could be said of him was that he wasn’t a homer – then he gave Leicester the softest penalty to earn a point, and quit on that deal, too.

By then, the locals were stomping towards the exits, muttering dark oaths about conspiracies and special arrangements, but this was nothing of the sort. Moss simply had a very poor game, just as a player can have a very poor game.

The difference is, a player gets substituted before too much damage is done; a referee does not.

Imagine if Uefa could have withdrawn Tom Henning Ovrebo from Chelsea’s match with Barcelona in 2009; or Mark Clattenburg could have been stood down midway in Chelsea’s game against Manchester United in 2012.

This match does not require an investigation – but it might have benefited from a big shepherd’s crook, or the clang of a talent-night gong.

And to think Kevin Friend was taken off Tottenham’s game with Stoke, simply for living in Leicester. Postcodes are not the problem here; competence is.

Moss should not be let loose on any of the title deciders between now and the end of the season, no matter if he pledges allegiance to Torquay United and goes to live in the Outer Hebrides.

We will get to the match, but first the match-defining decisions. In the 57th minute, Moss sent off Jamie Vardy for diving. He was running through with Angelo Ogbonna in contention when he collapsed in a heap. The home crowd screamed for a penalty; instead, Moss produced a yellow card, Vardy’s second of the game, and sent him to the stands. Was he correct? Replays suggested as much.

Vardy appeared to slow his run and change his direction to take him into Ogbonna’s path before taking a dramatic fall on contact.

Yet it would have been exceedingly hard to call on first sight, and after several replays many were still not sure. Moss knew the consequences of a second booking, too.

Leicester were leading 1-0 at the time meaning, if Tottenham lost at Stoke, the Premier League could be won against Swansea next Sunday. So Moss was not just removing Vardy from this game, but from the biggest match of his life. He would have had to be absolutely certain of that dive – and it is hard to see how he could be, at that pace. It took several replays for the truth to emerge.

In the Hollywood script, Vardy will be painted as the victim of a huge injustice. He wasn’t – although the hostile reaction of the home crowd is what ultimately overwhelmed Moss, and this is where it began.

It was a different game, now. Leicester hanging on, West Ham in the ascendancy, having played well throughout – but with no way past Leicester’s defence until six minutes remaining.

That was the point when Moss decided to take a stand, just the once. He saw Wes Morgan wrestle Winston Reid as a dead ball came in and awarded a penalty. Again, the right decision.

Yet why wasn’t it also the right decision when Ogbonna did it, very obviously, in the first half? Why wasn’t it the right decision when Ogbonna did it, again, on Robert Huth minutes later?

Holding, wrestling, body-checking – even headlocks – could be spotted in the penalty area yesterday. Yet this was the only time Moss felt moved to act. He pointed to the spot, and the home fans reached boiling point. Andy Carroll finished smartly, low to his right. To their credit, the away team did not consider their work done.

Within two minutes, a complete turnaround. Michail Antonio crossed, a header from Jeffrey Schlupp took the ball out to Aaron Cresswell who returned it with a cracking shot into the far corner. It did not do him justice that the home fans greeted a fine goal with a chorus of “2-1 to the referee”.

At that point, the best that could be said for Moss is that he was prepared to make unpopular decisions and ride the consequences. It can’t be easy to send off Vardy and give a penalty against Leicester, but at least he refused to be cowed by the home crowd. Yet this is the referee that Jose Mourinho called weak earlier in the season, so one final travesty remained.

In the final moments of injury time, Schlupp and Carroll came together, no more. They are both big lads, and Schlupp fell over. Moss needed no further invitation. He pointed to the spot, and Leicester rejoiced. A point for them was so much more valuable than a point for West Ham.

With a win, West Ham were back in the hunt for fourth place; a draw leaves them looking at the Europa League, at best. For Leicester, however, it was a Godsend. The chance to go eight points clear of Tottenham, the chance to play Swansea on Sunday with a minimum cushion of five points. Leonardo Ulloa levelled. Now it was West Ham’s chance to moan. So Moss was at least consistent in sending everyone home unhappy.

Before that, it had been a physically punishing, but even game. A header from West Ham’s Cheikhou Kouyate had hit both posts after just two minutes – Kasper Schmeichel tipping it on to one, the laws of physics sending it spinning across goal and on to the other – before Vardy gave Leicester an 18th-minute lead.

It was a perfect move, counter-attacking, fast and clinical. A West Ham corner was gathered by Schmeichel, who threw the ball to Riyad Mahrez for a quick break. He moved it on to N’Golo Kante, who outstripped West Ham’s pursuing midfield and slipped a pass to Vardy. From the moment it arrived at his feet it looked a goal, Vardy burying the ball in the far corner, watched by England manager Roy Hodgson.

It was a mighty blow for West Ham who would have thought they were doing quite well until that point. Credit to them, then, for coming at Leicester from the start and refusing to give up – and to Leicester for at least taking a point when the game looked lost.

West Ham did not buy into the idea of a Leicester league title as fate and did not take a step backwards all game. Leicester did not allow Moss’s flaky display to halt a run of unbeaten matches as they close in on the impossible.

The fact remains, however, that West Ham got back into the match only because of the referee, and then so did Leicester. The story of the season has been enlivened but not in any way that can be considered remotely pleasurable. – Daily Mail