Bradford City have confirmed they have contacted the PGMOL following an incident involving Jay Benn during their game against Crewe Alexandra.
The Lincoln City loanee had allegedly had his hair pulled during the game in Cheshire, with Mickey Demetriou taking the defender down and allowing Omar Bogle to score the opening goal for The Railwaymen.
“Violent Conduct”
City went on to draw the game thanks to Alex Pattison, who was sent off moments after his goal. The match ended 1-1, putting The Bantams even further adrift from the League Two play-off positions. The FA has since charged both sides for the confrontation in the aftermath of the dismissal of the former Harrogate Town midfielder.
Bradford boss Alexander has spoken out about how he felt about the incident involving Benn, telling the Telegraph and Argus that the club has contacted the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) for answers.
“I spoke to (PGMOL national group director) Mike Jones a month and a half ago about some of the challenges going on against our players, especially Andy Cook and Vadaine Oliver, which were ridiculous.
“But the one on Jay Benn was violent conduct for me. The player actually grabs his scalp and drags him to the floor and where they score from is the position Jay Benn was supposed to be defending.
“I know they can’t see everything but there are four officials and it’s a set-piece so everyone’s down there. They are only looking at one end.
“It was a missed challenge, it’s not a good challenge and it shouldn’t be on a football pitch. But we have to roll with those punches because it doesn’t seem to be going for us that way at the moment.”
Writer’s View
Bradford City do have every right to be aggrieved by the missed decision. Demetriou does bring him down and even whilst he might not have stopped Omar Bogle from scoring, he has been denied any chance to do so with the foul, which as Graham Alexander said could constitute violent conduct. Incidents are missed regularly throughout the lower leagues of football though and this is another case of that. It will be interesting to see if the PGMOL will act upon the video footage Bradford City have sent them and if they do, Crewe Alexandra will be down a very major player for a few matches.
Football journalist with The Real EFL since 2023. A 2024 Multimedia Journalism graduate from the University of Salford, Lewis specialises in Salford City FC and EFL coverage.
