Aston Villa ace Matty Cash scores and is booked for unveiling T-shirt supporting Polish team-mate amid Russian invasion
ASTON VILLA scorer Matty Cash was controversially booked for unveiling a T-shirt backing a Poland team-mate stuck in Ukraine.
After firing the opener in the 2-0 win at Brighton, Cash revealed a 'Tomasz Kedziora + family, stay strong bro' message for the Dynamo Kyiv defender.
But referee John Brooks followed strict FA rules by handing Cash a yellow card for taking his top off.
Villa chief Steven Gerrard 'took responsibility' for the yellow card after revealing he had urged his players to keep calm.
Kedziora, 27, who has been with Ukraine capital side Dynamo since 2017, is trapped in the country as Russia's invasion intensifies.
And Russian president Vladimir Putin has stepped up his aggression against Ukraine as troops close on Kyiv despite fierce resistance.
But Gerrard said: “I’ll take responsibility for Cashie’s yellow card.
"I should have spoken to the players before the game and said to them, ‘If you score any goals, remain calm’.
“We’ve all got to respect the situation and I think that’s what Matty tried to do.
“But I’ll certainly take responsibility for that. There’s no blame towards Matty. Everyone has different feelings. That’s on me that one.”
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But Sky Sports Soccer Saturday presenter Jeff Stelling criticised 'inexperienced' ref Brooks - while also urging football chiefs to throw the yellow card out.
Social media mainly backed Cash too, although some fans insisted Brooks had no option but to book him to avoid inconsistency.
Stelling exclaimed: "He's been booked for it! John Brooks is an inexperienced Premier League referee.
"Hopefully when people come to their senses, the Premier League will just ignore that. They should just ignore that."
One armchair observer on Twitter hit out: "Is the ref joking? That is actually ridiculous."
But another posted: "It is the law to be booked for that, but the inexperienced ref could have shown some compassion and common sense and let him off."
Similar messages followed. such as: "Obviously the ref doesn’t want to give the yellow but it’s literally the rule he has to."
But one said: "Taking of your shirt is a yellow whatever the message under it may be.
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"There is enough interpretation in this game already without having to consider what the message is before booking someone for taking his shirt off."
