Jack Clarke was apparently ‘very fortunate’ to not be sent off during Sunderland’s win over Leeds United tonight.
That’s according to Jermain Beckford, who told Sky Sports that he could have been sent off for a foul on Crysencio Summerville.
Sunderland pulled off an outstanding 1-0 win over Leeds United in the Championship this evening, putting on an excellent defensive display that led to Jobe Bellingham claiming all three points against the run of play.
It is now two wins on the bounce for Mike Dodds, who is already raising questions as to whether he should be considered for the managerial vacancy left by Tony Mowbray last week.
The Black Cats’ superb display could have all been for nothing though, when fans’ hearts were left in their mouth as Crysencio Summerville looked to be through on goal prior to Jobe’s opener.
However, a tug of the shirt from Jack Clarke left the Leeds United winger at a disadvantage and the ball was eventually collected by Anthony Patterson.
There were few complaints from the Whites, but Jermain Beckford has now claimed that Clarke could have been sent off if Summerville had gone down.
“I love the honesty [from Summerville],” Beckford said after the match.
“That’s what you want to see from your attacking players, that honesty… but at the same time, Jack Clarke was very very smart and very fortunate as well.
“I think there’s enough for Crysencio Summerville to go down and he’s through one on one with the goalkeeper. If he does go down, it’s hard to argue against a red card.”
Should Jack Clarke have seen red?
Leeds United looked pretty much set to steal the lead when Summerville looked to have gone one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but I thought Jack Clarke had done pretty well to get between them.
Perhaps I have my Sunderland-tinted glasses on, but I just didn’t think there was enough contact to warrant a foul. Though I suppose it also wouldn’t have surprised me if Clarke had been dismissed if Summerville went to ground given what we call a ‘foul’ these days.
But that is Summerville’s fault for not going down and we certainly don’t have any complaints about it. In the end, we deserved to take the victory and Leeds United just simply didn’t take their chances.