Benni Suspension a Blow for Rovers

Blackburn Rovers striker Benni McCarthy's frustration got the better of him at the weekend against Reading, his booking now means he'll miss the Arsenal game on Saturday.

Having already seen three goals ruled out through offside, two correctly and one without question incorrectly after finally making it fourth time luck he showed his frustration by acknowledging the assistant (Andrew Williams, who had ruled out two of the three including the incorrect decision) by waving to him, rolling the ball in his direction and mouthing something along the lines of "that one wasn't offside!" This earned him a booking from Graham Poll, thus meaning his will serve a one-match suspension for picking up his fifth booking of the season and will miss the trip to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

His reaction may have been somewhat cynical but he didn't mean anything overly aggressive by this and his frustration can be understood… can't it? Mark Hughes feels that Poll should have maybe shown Benni a little more leniency:

"I was a little bit disappointed with the yellow card - it wasn't done with any malice. He was trying to make a point.

"It wasn't as if he aggressively threw the ball at the assistant - he just rolled it towards him to acknowledge we'd got a goal that actually counted. He was frustrated. It wasn't dissent.

"It's doubly frustrating because he will miss the Arsenal match. He's a striker and had three goals chalked off so his reaction was understandable. Maybe he should have been given some leeway."

With Benni now suspended Sparky has a decision to make, does he deploy the one striker for the trip to Arsenal or should he go for the two, one of which will almost certainly be Shabani Nonda despite the Congolese forward often struggling to come to terms with the Premiership.

Meanwhile Andy Todd has earned praise from Sparky for the part he has played since coming back into the team:

"Andy Todd, he hasn't had a great deal of football this year, he's had a hell of a week. He's come back into the fold and I thought against Reading he was solid as a rock."

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