Referee Watch No. 1: Mark Halsey, Ipswich Town v. Portsmouth

Ipswich Town's match again Portsmouth in the FA Cup should have been a good tie—full of flair, fleet of foot, and above all damn good football.

What we got instead was a struggle by a 10-man Ipswich side to contain Portsmouth—which they did commendably for 46 minutes, 22 of which were spent without 19-year-old Liam Trotter.

I'm a referee in training, with a few stages to my name, and what I initially saw on Trotter's tackle was a late challenge, a possible yellow card, and a free kick to Portsmouth.

That was my first instinct.

However, upon rewinding the footage (God bless my Sky+ box), I was forced to conclude that while Trotter was certainly late, it seemed to be more of a dive from Pedro Mendes than a malicious tackle.

In fact, everything about Trotter's tackle epitomised what the Referee's Association and veteran coaches have been talking about these last few weeks: Trotter had gone to ground, but (and this is key) was using just one foot, studs down—and was clearly going for the ball.

Referee Mark Halsey was standing right in front of the play. To my surprise, and I'm sure to the surprise of every Ipswich and Portsmouth fan in attendance, Halsey produced a red card.

What is telling is how Mendes reacted to the tackle: He launched himself into the air, clutched at his leg, and rolled over. Twice.

When a player goes to ground like that, for me, it's whether or not he proceeds to roll over that tells me how injured he is, and how much contact there was.

In a game a few weeks back, Majid Bougherra of Charlton Athletic was tackled and fell to ground—no rolling, no movement. While he did walk off the field after five minutes, he was substituted, and swathed in bandages.

The differences between the tackles on Bougherra and Mendes are evident upon replay. There was more contact with Bougherra, and he went down without rolling—whereas it's comical to replay the Mendes incident at half speed as the contact, however minimal, doesn't result in such a leap of faith.

Yes, a leap of faith.

Mendes, in my opinion, manufactured the red card sublimely. Halsey was taken in, and, thanks in no part to media-types (myself included) who have clamoured for red cards to be shown for dangerous tackles, sent off the young Ipswich player unnecessarily.

It's a shame, you must note, that not only was Mendes trying to con the referee—so was Pompey coach Joe Jordon, who took to jumping up and down on the touchline, screaming for a red card.

You may be wondering why the title of this article is "Referee Watch" when I spent most of the piece writing about the players.

It's simple really: Mark Halsey is a half-decent referee who was conned on this occasion—and it is to him that I address the final point.

Next time, Mark, think it through, and don't send off someone when a player reacts like Mendes did. Nine times out of ten, he's play-acting.

As it is, the red card tarnished what should have been a thrilling encounter between the best home side in the Championship and the best away form side in the Premiership.