Ireland’s White Hart Lane shame sinks City

SHOULD Ireland ever be drawn in a qualifying group with England then the FA would do well to use White Hart Lane as a venue.

There is a portion of the pitch in this corner of north London that keeps claiming Irishmen like the Bermuda Triangle swallows light aircraft. Last week it was Robbie Keane, red-carded for a poor tackle against Birmingham; this time it was the Manchester City midfielder Stephen Ireland who was dismissed for a show of studs at Lee Young-Pyo on virtually the same piece of turf.

Ireland’s 82nd-minute ejection cost City as within a minute substitute Jermain Defoe had won the game with his first Premier League goal of the season