Brady baffled by decision not to send off Stevenage captain during opening day encounter

Cobblers manager Jon Brady was left bewildered by the decision not to send off Stevenage captain Carl Piergianni during Saturday’s League One encounter at Sixfields.

The 31-year-old centre-half fell foul of the new guidelines after just five minutes when he kicked the ball away and immediately received a yellow card from referee Lewis Smith. Then, in the second half, the Boro skipper brought down Mitch Pinnock on the halfway line as Town counter-attacked.

He stayed on the pitch, however, which left Brady surprised and unimpressed, especially as it was Piergianni who popped up with the winning goal nine minutes from time.

He said: "If they're going to follow all these new rules, how the hell is Piergianni still on the pitch for taking Mitch out on the halfway line? He kicks the ball away in the first half, gets a yellow card, so how's he not got another yellow?

"I'm not going to have sour grapes over that but it's disappointing. He should have gone because he's absolute poleaxed Mitch on the halfway line and it should be a second booking because we were off and away on the break. The referee chose to fade away in that moment instead of stepping up.”

Cobblers may also have been awarded a penalty in first half stoppage-time when Stevenage goalkeeper Taye Ashby-Hammond brought down Jack Sowerby, but it was a different incident earlier in the half which caught Brady’s attention.

"I haven't actually seen the penalty shout,” he added. “I thought it was at the time from the touchline, it was a great run and a great through ball, but I was more disappointed about the corner routine earlier on where we've worked it brilliantly and three of them are all around Manny (Monthé) and they’re manhandling him, which is unbelievable, and Jon Guthrie hits their man on the line.

"There were just a couple of things where I felt we were harshly done to, but we can't get away from the fact that in the second half we needed to be better on the ball, much better."

Also discussing the Piergianni incident, Town defender Aaron McGowan said: “I think they were lucky to finish with 11 players on the pitch. I like Carl, he’s a good player and a great lad, but the second one is a stonewall yellow card.”