Furious O’Neill blasts Ballack and ref Dowd

ASTON VILLA Martin O’Neill pointed the finger at Michael Ballack over a controversial penalty and condemned the performance of ref Phil Dowd during yesterday’s draw with Chelsea.

O’Neill is considering an appeal of the red card shown to Zat Knight on the stroke of half-time after claiming his player made no contact with Ballack.

And the Villa boss was also frustrated by the free kick awarded for Martin Laursen’s challenge on Joe Cole that was converted by Ballack to nudge Chelsea 4-3 ahead, insisting Dowd’s decision was influenced by the crowd.

He said: “Zat Knight’s sending off was a major moment. I’ve seen it a couple of times now and while I’m aware that I have the benefit of replays, I will look at it again.

“I might appeal and we have until noon (Thursday) to do so. It wasn’t a penalty.

“The Chelsea player went over and there was no contact. That’s my view — it wasn’t a penalty.

“The free-kick they got with three minutes to go was not a free-kick.

“I’ve seen it again since but how did I feel at the time that he might just give it? He did.

“The referee was in a position to get that one right because he was on the spot.”

O’Neill was thankful the linesman spotted Cole’s hand ball at the death.

O’Neill said: “Thank God the linesman saw the penalty on the line and we got something. Cole handled the ball and it was clear cut.”

O’Neill added: “We deserved nothing less than a draw. We were terrific.

“In the first half we were 2-0 in front just before half time, were playing brilliantly and deserved to be in front.

“We never gave up and came back from the dead twice.”

O’Neill insisted Chelsea could have no complaints at Ricardo Carvalho’s red card for a vicious two-footed tackle on Agbonlahor.

He said: “It was a straightforward red card and he was the last man, even though Gabriel had 40-odd yards to go. It was a sending off offence.”

Carvalho apologised for his vicious two-footed challenge on Agbonlahor. The Portuguese defender said: “It was never my intention to hurt Gabriel.

“I was going for the ball and I don’t want people to think that I tried to hurt another player.

“I didn’t see him after the game to apologise but I asked for a message to be passed on to him.”

Chelsea boss Avram Grant backed Carvalho’s claim there was no malice involved in the incident. He said: “For me what’s important is Carvalho did not intend to hurt the player — I didn’t see any intention.”

Carvalho will now miss matches against Newcastle and Fulham and an FA Cup third-round tie against Queens Park Rangers.

The absence of Carvalho and Cole leaves Chelsea without virtually their entire first-choice defence with skipper John Terry also in the treatment room.

Also Frank Lampard limped off in the first half with a thigh problem.

Grant said: “We can’t give a diagnosis on Frank after one hour. We’ll wait and see. We have a very good medical department and he’ll be fit as possible.”