Anton Stach scored a brilliant goal from a free-kick to win all three points for Leeds United in their opening game of the season against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.
In a tight game, Stach produced a moment of quality late in the game to ensure Leeds leave the Midlands with a win and all three points in their bag in the opening weekend.
Forest and Leeds played out a battle at the City Ground, and the game seemed destined for a 0-0 stalemate as both teams were struggling to produce clear cut opportunities.
Stach won Leeds the points, but there was a moment of controversy in the first-half that could have cost Leeds the points after the referee made a poor error.
Nottingham Forest star escapes red card
A big talking point happened early in the game when Nottingham Forest star Ola Aina was given a yellow card after a hard tackle on his Leeds counterpart.
But replays suggested that the challenge deserved more than just a caution as it was dangerous and could have caused a major injury.
However, referee Rob Jones decided it was only worthy of a yellow card, and VAR did not intervene despite many feeling the challenge could have warranted a red.
Former Leeds defender Jon Newsome insisted that Aina was very lucky to escape a red card as he was clearly not in control and his tackle was nowhere near the ball.
He believes Jones lost his nerve and didn’t want to send off a player of the home team so early in the game on the opening weekend of the season.
Newsome said on BBC Radio Leeds: “He’s a very lucky lad. He’s missed the ball. That’s a red for me.
“He’s not got anywhere near the ball; he’s totally out of control.
“I think that’s opening day of the season, probably a little bit scared to send somebody off after 18 minutes.
“Poor.”
Leeds getting bogged down by referees again
Daniel Farke’s side were on the wrong side of some horrible refereeing decisions last season and could have finished higher in the table.
And on the first day of the new campaign, a referee bottled it again and failed to send off a player for a clearly dangerous challenge against Leeds.
Leeds cannot afford such refereeing decisions for another season and still expect to get results at tough away grounds such as the City Ground.
Daniel Farke may not want to talk about the referees after games, but the officials need to pull up their socks soon, even if the Whites got the points today.
