What Frank Lampard said about Jayson Molumby’s red card after West Brom loss vs Coventry
Frank Lampard thought West Brom could have no complaints about Jayson Molumby’s second yellow card in the second half of Saturday’s clash.
West Brom lost 3-2 to Coventry City at the Coventry Building Society Arena, with Ryan Mason‘s side throwing away a 2-0 lead.
Aune Heggebo had scored a first-half brace to put the Baggies into a commanding position, with Josh Eccles’ header halving the deficit before the break.
Molumby was given his marching orders early in the second half, however, with Ellis Simms and Victor Torp’s goals sinking the 10 men of West Brom.
Mikey Johnston and Heggebo were praised for their performances against Coventry but the pair would ultimately be left empty-handed, despite their contributions.
Frank Lampard provides cruel West Brom verdict
Molumby was slammed for his performance for Ireland against Hungary during the international break, and the midfielder can expect further criticism after Saturday’s scenes.
Having already been booked, the 26-year-old was set to be walking a tightrope for his time on the pitch in the second half.
| Coventry City | Match stats | West Brom |
| 67% | Possession | 33% |
| 24 | Shots | 7 |
| 11 | On target | 5 |
| 2.27 | Expected goals (xG) | 1.61 |
| 4 | Big chances | 3 |
| 8 | Corners | 1 |
But just four minutes after the break, Molumby made the baffling decision to drag back Eccles on the halfway line, leaving the referee with no choice but to show a second yellow card.
It was a baffling decision which left his teammates with little chance of defending their slender lead against the Championship table-toppers.
Speaking after the game, Lampard had little sympathy. “I think it helped in terms of taking away a counter attack threat, which was their threat mainly in the first half, but it was a red card and that’s just football,” the Coventry manager said.
“It was a clear one so then you’ve got to deal with that and deal with people expecting you to break them down when they’re going to sink back. But I thought we did that really well.
“We had a 20 minute spell where we obviously scored the two goals where it was, wired at speed to Tatsu and Milan joining in; crosses, next one, crosses, other side, crosses.
“So we’ve had a couple of games I think now against 10 men – Birmingham and Watford – and they can be hard and we dealt with it and made it right. And we had zero threats against us in the second half.
“But I think even with 11 men on I would have fancied us in the second half because of the way we were approaching the game.”
Ryan Mason clear on Jayson Molumby red card
Molumby will now be suspended for the visit of Birmingham City on Wednesday, and the Ireland international may well be glad to avoid The Hawthorns‘ reception.
Speaking after Saturday’s game, Mason said: “The game completely changed in the second half from an incident. It’s something we need to learn from and avoid in the future because to play with ten men in this league against quality opposition, it’s going to be extremely difficult.
“We weren’t able to get through that period straight after the red. We didn’t find a way to get through and they scored a couple of goals from set-pieces and second-phase set-pieces, which we need to better on.”
With just one win from the last six Championship fixtures, the walls now seem to be rapidly closing in on Mason. Wednesday’s game now looks absolutely key, with time a luxury.
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