Ex-Premier League referee reacts to controversial Birmingham City, Hull City flashpoint | OneFootball

Hull City's 3-2 win at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park was full of controversy

Ex-Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher and former Cardiff City striker, Jay Bothroyd, have been among those reacting to several controversial flashpoints which occurred in Hull City's 3-2 away success at Birmingham City on Saturday afternoon.

It was a Championship encounter full of drama, with the Tigers coming out on top and ending Blues' 29-game unbeaten home league run in B9, whilst also recording back-to-back victories for the first time in 47 outings and Sergej Jakirovic's first success outside of East Yorkshire in the process.

Whilst the scoring throughout a five-goal 'thriller', as such, would normally dominate headlines, that cannot be fully said when reflecting on the events of Saturday afternoon at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park, with the performance of the man in the middle, Ruebyn Ricardo, coming under the microscope from supporters of both sides, those of rival clubs, as well as former players and pundits, such as Bothroyd and Gallagher, who featured on Sky Sports' 'Ref Watch' on Monday morning, with the duo trying their best to unpack several instances throughout 99 minutes of frantic second tier action in the best way possible.

This included Birmingham centre-back Jack Robinson being awarded a straight red card on the hour-mark for dissent after already scoring an own-goal, with the summer signing from Sheffield United now facing a four-match ban after previously being dismissed in controversial fashion against Coventry City last month.

Blues supporters felt aggrieved on two further occasions - the first seeing appeals for a first-half penalty turned down as Keshi Anderson fell under pressure from Charlie Hughes, before Ricardo went on to caution Hull centre-back, John Egan, for an incident in the 83rd minute in which Hull substitute, Matt Crooks, was rather fortunate to escape a second booking after pulling back Jay Stansfield right in front of Ricardo.

Yet, remarkably, this wasn't the most contentious of calls.

Dermot Gallagher and Jay Bothroyd issue verdict on major Birmingham City vs Hull City flashpoint

With the scores level at 1-1 heading towards the break, the incident which fully sparked an end-to-end encounter to life came when Kyle Joseph won the ball after going in strongly on Patrick Roberts, before a combination of Marc Leonard and Stansfield applied immediate 'revenge' on the Hull forward in front of both technical areas.

Amid a mass melee was effectively all 22 players on the pitch at the time, as well as various staff alongside the Blues manager and Hull head coach.

After the game, Jakirovic claimed that Davies had sworn at him, as well as being the subject of a controversial comment in relation to his Balkan heritage, which Birmingham swiftly refuted after both post-match press conferences.

The fracas resulted in Ricardo brandishing out four yellow cards to Stansfield, Joe Gelhardt, Blues assistant Tom Huddlestone and the aforementioned Jakirovic - who will serve a touchline ban against Leicester City on Tuesday night.

Despite it being clear from replays that Joseph had, indeed, come away with the ball, Bothroyd believes the situation could have been avoided by the awarding of an initial foul - as controversial as that would have been in itself.

"He got the ball, though. That's all I'm gonna say straight away. That is really aggressive (Joseph's challenge), and it doesn't need to be, but I mean the referee, Dermott's going to say, he could have just given the foul, it would have stopped everything else," the ex-striker said, with Gallagher in full agreement.

"Well, I'm of that belief: My best friend is always keep it safe, keep it simple. That's his mantra when he's coaching referees. He's good at that; I don't do that, but that's what he tells me. And I just think if, if you're starting out as a referee, an incident like that happens, if you watch, bang, it's right in front of the dugout, you give a foul. Everybody will accept that's a foul; he might argue he's got the ball, but everybody will accept that's a foul, and it stops all this," the former Premier League referee claimed.

Bothroyd also couldn't believe Ricardo's actions in the thick of the heated exchange.

"I'll tell you what I'm noticing there, look where the referee's standing. Why is he not going there and getting involved and trying to calm things down and split things up? He's just standing there watching. That's the part that I don't understand because a referee is there to make the decisions, pull people apart, and calm people down as well. I think that was an opportunity for the referee there to get involved and say, 'Hey, come on, split it up," he added.

Gallagher stated, in response: "Well, he's not there to pull players apart because what you have to remember is, if I go in and start pulling you apart and you take a swing at a player and unfortunately catch me, you're in big, big trouble, aren't you? In that situation, he's probably thought, I'll stand back, have a panoramic view. Is he going to stop by going in there? Is he going to stop that amount of players?"

"I talk a lot about root cause and remedy, and the root cause is a free kick wasn't given. I know I'm sounding like a record, but give a free kick. You just give that free kick, it all goes away, and you don't have this aftermath," the Irishman later explained.

Birmingham City and Hull City's upcoming Championship fixtures

It was clear that, throughout the encounter, the instance before half-time added further friction to a high-tempo encounter, with Hull retaking the lead in the lengthy amount of first-half stoppage time through Regan Slater, who claimed post-match that the key reason his team emerged victorious was their ability to battle stronger than Davies' side.

To their credit, Blues continued to test Ivor Pandur on several occasions, although Stansfield's second of the game and fifth of the league season came too little, too late as Gelhardt made it 3-1 moments earlier.

Birmingham will be without the aforementioned Robinson for their trip to Preston North End on Tuesday night, where they will look to record a first win in five games, whilst Hull can make it three wins in a row for the first time in 12 months against a draw-heavy Leicester side at the MKM Stadium.