After Blackburn Rovers’ home clash against Ipswich Town had to be abandoned, the English Football League has issued a statement on the Championship clash.
Blackburn Rovers and Ipswich Town have been told they must file their grievances to the EFL by 4pm on Wednesday, September 24.
The former Premier League sides faced off on September 20 until their match had to be abandoned due to a waterlogged pitch. It was the 80th minute when referee Steve Martin decided the pitch was not in a fit state to finish the game.
At the time, Rovers were leading Kieran McKenna’s side 1-0 courtesy of a second-half penalty from Todd Cantwell. The East Anglians had also been reduced to ten men after Jacob Greaves was sent off.
However, with the match being suspended as a result of inclement weather, a decision on whether the match will be replayed or ended with the score as it was is yet to be decided. With an announcement about the contest likely to be made at the end of the week, the EFL released a public statement aimed at both sides.
They said: “Following the abandonment of the Sky Bet Championship fixture between Blackburn Rovers and Ipswich Town, the two clubs were given a deadline of 4pm today to make any final representations to the league.
“Once in receipt of the submissions, the matter will be discussed by the EFL Board before the end of this week, with the outcome to be confirmed shortly thereafter.”
Rovers boss Valerien Ismael has made his stance clear. He said: “It’s clear that when you are 1-0 up, down to ten men for the opponent, we’ve got the momentum.
“Yes on one hand they can score a goal, but on the other hand we have the possibility to score as well. We faced this situation against Norwich, we were down to ten but we were pushing, the feeling then was we can score, but we conceded a goal and we lost 2-0.
“I think for us we’ve got the right to want the three points in that situation. I think it’s the fair thing to do, especially when the opponent is down to ten.
“Eleven vs eleven is another situation, but this situation was clear, we were in a clear advantage. The statistics, the data, everything shows that we were on the front foot since the red card.”
A match being abandoned before the end of play is rare as it requires the approval of the referee and the footballing authorities or it has to be ordered by the police. One of three things can happen as a result of a match being ended before 90 minutes.
The fixture could be counted as a completed match with the score at the time of the abandonment being listed as the final result and it may also be replayed partially or in its entirety.
