An Eventful weekend!

We've had everything this weekend I think! Controversies, sendings off, crowd trouble, its all been there, and some. I'll try to keep my discussion of each incident brief, so I can get through everything I want to say.

Starting on Saturday then. Two sendings off in the Premier League - for Valencia of Wigan and Davis of Portsmouth. Davis I don't think can have any complaints really. Valencia probably feels a little hard done by on his first booking but he had been warned. On the subject of the Villa game, the unsavoury incident at the end will hopefully be dealt with strongly, and the individual who threw the coin (be it at Harry Redknapp or Phil Sharp) will hopefully be banned. Villa have spoken out strongly against it so hopefully they will deal with it as appropriate.

Disallowed goals at Old Trafford and Craven Cottage. Mark Halsey disallowed Wayne Rooney's first half effort for Manchester United. While the foul may have seemed soft, Rooney's hands do go up and from Mark Halsey's less than ideal view he sees this, the defender going down, and draws the logical conclusion. A perfectly understandable decision for me. Keith Stroud hit the headlines for ruling out Kieran Richardson's free kick for pushing in the wall. Its the sort of things which probably happens week in week out but goes unpunished all the time. Stroud was probably right, but its not consistent with the general approach.

But my main focus of discussion will be Sunday's games. One incident at Hull - that being Ilunga's "goal" for West Ham being chalked off. While nicking the ball off the keeper while he drop kicks it is clever, it is not sporting. There was a similar incident last season involving Solskjaer of Manchester United, and the situation hasn't changed - indirect free kick and yellow card is the correct outcome. Chris Foy got this spot on, as the keeper is deemed to be "in possession" of the ball while he drop kicks it.

An extraordinary game at the Britannia, with Lee Mason in the middle for Stoke against Tottenham. Mason has yet to prove himself at Premier League level after two full seasons, but this performance should do him no harm. He had four key decisions to make and got all four spot on. Bale's foul and subsequent sending off were both correct, the foul being just inside the area and denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity. The second penalty was a clear cut trip by Woodgate. Dawson's challenge in the 11 minutes of stoppage time was a poor one, and even if he got a little of the ball, contact like that, with studs into ankle, is very dangerous and a definite red card. Mason was on the spot. The only downside for the refereeing team is that Tottenham's goal was scored by Bent from an offside position, something not picked up by the assistant. But Mason should see himself pick up another appointment next week following a good showing here on a day when everything went wrong for Tottenham.

Finally, I don't usually comment on games from outside the Premier League, but I will do on this occasion. At lunchtime, I watched a fantastic Steel City derby between Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United. A hugely entertaining game, full of incident and controversy. Premier League referee Mike Dean was at the helm. In the first half, he sent off United's Kilgallon for a challenge where he went in with a high boot. It was a mistimed challenge, although the contact of studs on shoulder persuaded Dean to show a red card. It wasn't malicious, but lets not dismiss it as clearly not a red card. Theres a clear argument for endangering safety, although perhaps less so for excessive force, but depending on interpretation you could quite easily see it as a sending off, meeting both these criteria. This incident changed the game, and Wednesday took the lead shortly afterwards.

Into the second half, and Wednesday get a clear cut penalty for a trip by Gary Speed. United keeper Paddy Kenny saves it, but moves forward off his line in doing so. Dean didn't order a retake, but frankly I don't blame him. This rule is applied with so much inconsistency that to let it go (unless a ridiculous movement) is fair enough. Its also a little unfair on the keeper - how they will save a penalty without some forward movement I don't know. Anyway, next, Wednesday's Jermaine Johnson catches a United player late with a flailing arm and picks up a booking. Arguments for a red card here, but I'd go yellow. He is then substituted and, in frustration, kicks a water bottle which goes flying into the crowd. After a pause and a bit of faffing around, Dean (in consultation with fourth official Stuart Attwell) gives Johnson a second yellow card. He is quite entitled to do this - players can be given cards while on the bench. It is the correct decision (arguably again it could be a straight red) - the bottle could have injured someone in the crowd - a stupid thing for Johnson to do. Finally, at the end, we have Wednesday keeper Grant holding onto the ball for too long, and so Dean correctly gives United an indirect free kick in the area. Pushing and shoving abounds in the wall, and theres some handbags which Dean deals with.

Wednesday won 1-0, but my description doesn't begin to go through the many chances both teams had. I actually thought Mike Dean handled the match well, letting play flow as much as he dared in a tense atmosphere. I know these views are at odds with those of the teams involved (and especially United fans) but that is how I saw it. The one decision I'd perhaps take issue with would be the first sending off - but even thats not black and white and, if it happened in Spain (for example), Kilgallon would have walked, and there would have been no argument. It just goes to show how incidents are viewed differently in this country. But a hugely enjoyable, incident-packed game, and I think neither team deserved to lose.

Pause for breath here! We've seen the best and worst of football this weekend. Chelsea and Manchester United turned on the style and played some great stuff in their comfortable wins. Sunday's two lives games saw all manner of extraordinary incidents, and were both very entertaining. But then we have coin-throwing fans, poor tackles and, inevitably, some wrong decisions. The weekend certainly hasn't been boring, and with European football again this week it seems that it won't be a boring week either!