Ivan Toney calmly slotted home a penalty during Brentford’s win over Fulham, but Danny Murphy believes he shouldn’t have been on the pitch to take it.
Murphy is adamant Toney, who netted in the second half, was fortunate to escape a red for a challenge on Fulham’s Saka Lukic just before half time.
Lukic certainly came out worse off as he and Toney contested a 50-50 ball at the Brentford Community Stadium, the Serbia international getting a cut after being booted in the face by Toney.
Referee Anthony Taylor didn’t give Toney a yellow card, but Murphy says Toney deserved more than a yellow, claiming the 26-year-old deliberately straightened his leg when making the challenge.
“He knew what he was doing there,” Murphy said on commentary for talkSPORT.
“It’s a sending off, he knows what he’s doing. That’s how I used to tackle myself, you go over the top with your straight leg and you leave it there.
“Trust me I’ve played the game long enough, it’s a red card. They won’t give it because they won’t understand. I know what he’s doing.”
“Toney, I love him, he’s great but that’s a red card,” Murphy added.
“The way you get away with saying, ‘I’m not trying to hurt an opponent’ is you always say the same line, ‘I’m trying to protect myself.’
“The reason I’m adamant is because that is exactly how I used to tackle. You come in and once you miss the ball you leave your leg straight, so whatever hits your leg after it’s gone straight is going to come off worse than yourself.
“The cut on the cheek isn’t the problem because you can accidentally put your stud on someone’s face, but when you go through the ball and you have a straight leg… it’s a red card all day, every day and twice on Sundays.”
“They [VAR] will have checked it but interpreted as an accident.”
Lukic got his own reprieve moments later as he avoided a second yellow card despite wiping out Yoane Wissa with the Brentford forward looking to bear down on goal.
This let-off will have been scant consolation for the visitors on 53 minutes when Toney side-footed Brentford into a 2-1 lead after Christian Norgaard was felled inside the box.
Earlier, a deflected effort from Ethan Pinnock put the home side in front before Manor Solomon’s header on the rebound levelled the scores.
After Toney’s spot-kick Brentford went 3-1 up thanks to Mathias Jensen’s strike. Carlos Vinicius scored a consolation goal in the final moments of stoppage-time as the match finished 3-2 to the Bees.