Hatters chief felt he had no option but to save Alli from a red card at Bantams
Wingback was taken off early on at Valley Parade
Hatters boss Matt Bloomfield felt he was left with no option but to substitute Milli Alli midway through the first half of Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Bradford City before he was sent off.
Early in the game, the former Exeter attacker, who had been deployed at right wingback for the contest, saw yellow for fouling Ibou Touray as he looked to break away. Within 60 seconds, he then clipped Tommy Leigh as the pair went for a clearance, and with the raucous home fans baying for his dismissal, saw referee Edward Duckworth fortunately opt to keep his cards in his pockets.
However, it was quite obvious to anyone in the ground that Alli’s very next indiscretion would lead to a red card which meant Bloomfield felt he had little option but to act quickly, taking him off, with West Ham loanee Gideon Kodua on in his place. Asked if it was to prevent a dismissal, the Luton chief said: “Yes, it was.
"It just felt like with 20,000 fans baying for blood, it felt like it was going to be one more foul and he was going to be off the pitch, so it was just like we had to save him from that situation. It was unfortunate for all of us, I certainly don’t want to do it. I think that’s twice I have had to do it in my managerial career but we need to keep 11 men on the pitch and if you’re just literally one foul away from a second booking, it just wasn’t a situation that we could consider going into.”
Although both sides had players cautioned, Nigel Lonwijk for Luton along with Max Power and Bobby Pointon for the hosts, the Hatters chief wasn’t at all impressed by the man in the middle’s display throughout the contest, adding: “It’s no excuse but there were nowhere near 50-50 decisions that went in our favour. It kind of builds that momentum when you’re constantly having to defend free kicks. You could see my frustration on the sidelines, so it’s not an excuse to hide behind but it doesn’t help either.”