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Football London
Football London
Sport
Robert Warlow & James Quinlan

BBC pundits give honest verdict on Wales red card nightmare for ex-Palace man Wayne Hennessey

Wayne Hennessey's former Crystal Palace team-mate Danny Gabbidon has admitted that Wales could have "no complaints" over the red card he was shown against Iran.

The former Palace goalkeeper was sent off in the closing stages of the Group B clash at the World Cup in Qatar, with Hennessey shown a straight red card following a VAR review for a challenge on Iran striker Mehdi Taremi, after initially being shown a yellow card on the pitch.

The incident happened in the 86th minute with the score at 0-0, but Iran scored twice in injury time as Rouzbeh Cheshmi and Ramin Rezaeian both netted to dent Wales' hopes of progressing from the group stage, leaving them bottom of the table with one point from two games ahead of facing England on Tuesday.

READ MORE: Ex-Crystal Palace star makes Sunderland and Cardiff City admissions after 'surreal' turnaround

But Gabbidon said that his former teammate and the rest of the Wales team could not argue that the correct decision was made following the VAR review.

"You can have no complaints, neither can Robert Page, and that’s a big moment in this game," he said, speaking on BBC's commentary of the game. [It made it] really difficult for Wales to go on and win. That ball in behind has been on all game for Iran."

Meanwhile, former Swansea City and Wales defender Ashley Williams felt that Hennessey was unfortunate, while conceding that it was the right decision to show the red card.

"It’s just unlucky," he said. "I’m not sure what I can really say about that, he does catch him and it’s dangerous play. We’ve seen a lot of dangerous play by the way today that wasn’t even given a foul. Wayne [Hennessey] is unlucky because the defensive line is so high once you’ve committed as a goalkeeper to try and win you have to carry through with it."

And former Liverpool and Wales striker Ian Rush said he could not disagree with Williams that Hennessey should have been sent off.

"Wayne [Hennessey] made his decision early to come out, maybe thinking what if I’d stayed a little bit, but he made his decision and it was all or nothing," he said. "It was unfortunately a red card."

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