‘It wasn’t meant maliciously’ – Millwall boss gives his take on glasses gesture to official by Jed Wallace

Millwall manager Gary Rowett felt Jed Wallace could have escaped any punishment for his ‘spectacles’ gesture in Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Middlesbrough.

The Lions winger reacted that way after the assistant referee twice failed to make the right call in the first half – incorrectly awarding the Teessiders a throw-in and corner in quick succession.

Referee Robert Jones booked Wallace.

“I’m sure by the letter of the law it is the right thing to do,” said Rowett. “The linesman made a mistake early on when he missed an obvious ball out of play. Then he made another mistake.

“Jed turned around and, to me, it was a bit of banter and fun – it wasn’t meant maliciously. He got booked and then five minutes later one of their lads screamed in the linesman’s face – which again I’ve got no problem with – but he didn’t book him.

“I’m not saying the player should do that or it’s the way we want to act. But I also think a bit of common sense is just warn him and away we go.

“It’s where it becomes a little bit pedantic. Sometimes you want to allow players to have a little bit of personality but it seems you can’t do that anymore, so it is what it is.”

Jones booked five players – all in the opening 45 minutes – with four of those cautions dished out to Millwall’s team.

“There was a late challenge on Scottie by Crooks early on that was a little bit of a forearm smash that went unnoticed,” said Rowett.

“But I think Chris summed it up – and I tried to as well – it was a really competitive game. Both of us enjoyed that competitive side of it. We’ve both been around the game long enough and worked at different levels to appreciate that sometimes it is about that competitive nature of the game rather than just the beauty of it.

“Probably the luckiest one was Sav for his two trips! The kindest way to say it is that he got away with it. Sometimes that happens.

“No manager is there to get players sent off or booked.

“I complain sometimes and it is a lack of consistency. If the ref books someone early on or lets them get away with a challenge, like Crooks did early on – then if you book someone afterwards that is where a manager says: ‘Hang on a minute – you didn’t do that five minutes ago’.”