Tarkowski's Verdict On 'Bizarre' Keane Red Card

James Tarkowski described the decision to show Michael Keane a straight red card in the 1-1 draw with Wolves as "bizarre" – and believes his teammate had his arm raised as a routine defensive action.

Keane impressively netted the opener at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Wednesday night, before Mateus Mané levelled proceedings midway through the second half.

The contest then ended in chaotic fashion, with the Blues playing out the final stages with nine players, after Keane was adjudged to have committed "an act of violent conduct" after touching the hair of Tolu Arokodare as the pair competed in an aerial duel, before Jack Grealish was dismissed for a second yellow card offence.

Discussing the incident involving Keane, Tarkowski said: "I've never seen anything like it, I thought the decision [to send off Keane] was just bizarre.

"I've just seen it back. First of all, I understand the rule that if someone pulls someone's hair intentionally, then I get that. There are a couple of components to it, really. First, Michael Keane is the most placid, nicest fella I know, so he's never got any intention of causing harm to anyone. He's gone to challenge for the ball and the hair is where his hand is to put his hand in his back. That's how you defend, otherwise you're just going to end up smashing your head into the back of someone else's head. There's no intention to pull the hair and maybe an experienced referee, who knows the player Michael Keane is, knows he's not the player to do that. I think this is the referee's second game in the Premier League, so, obviously, he doesn't know the players very well yet.

"[The referee] has to [take context into account]. It can't just be a law and [applied] the same for every situation. Keano's hand has to go on his back – that's how you head the ball to protect yourself. I even spoke to the lad after the game and he was saying he wasn't asking for a red card, he just felt a pull on his hair and was asking for a foul, so even he didn't feel like it was violent conduct. If that decision stays it's a three-match ban for something that is absolutely nothing."

On Grealish's dismissal, Tarkowski continued: "I think we're all frustrated at that point. When you see the decision given against Keano, we're all frustrated. Jack will hold his hands up and say he's got to remain composed there because we need our players on the pitch at that point – it's difficult enough with 10 men, nevermind nine. 

"I'm sure he'll be disappointed because we needed him on the pitch at that moment, but we dealt with it in the end. We get a point, it's obviously disappointed, because we want to win games and tonight we didn't but to finish with nine men, we take the point and move on."

Assessing the performance as a whole, Tarkowski added: "We need to start winning at home again. Going in at half-time at 1-0, we've got to go and pick up the three points from that position. 

"The first half we played okay, we didn't play great but we had the 1-0 lead and then they made a change at half-time and we lost our way a little bit.

"It was a poor goal to concede, getting played through the middle like that, which is the worst way to concede a goal.

"But then it's not often you spend the final minutes with nine men, so we see out the point and have to move on."