Peter Walton's reasons for missing Michael Dawson's deliberate handball would have been easy to accept. Van der Sar's huge kick bounced straight into the Tottenham penalty area. With Wayne Rooney breathing down his neck, Dawson missed the ball and stumbled backwards, realising that Rooney was going to hammer the ball home from eight metres. His arm flicked out and knocked the ball out of Rooney's way.
Walton was inevitably out of position and must have been a good 30 metres away - although I can't confirm this on the tv replays - and he may have had some help from an assistant, but whatever the case the handball was spotted, Dawson was shown a red card and the referee can be proud of having done his job well.
I don't know if Peter Walton ever reads this blog - I doubt it - but I'd love to know how he managed to spot this handball. It would be a great lesson for all refs.
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