How the Irish fared: Joe Mason embroiled in diving furore

It was a weekend of contrasting emotions for Joe Mason as his equaliser for Cardiff in the 2-1 Championship win over Charlton on Saturday was overshadowed by his part in a diving controversy.

Mason’s close-range effort eight minutes into the second half was his fourth of the season but it was an incident before the interval which brought the 24-year-old a yellow card for simulation rather than a penalty that was the post-match focus of attention.

However his manager, Russell Slade, rushed to the defence of his player. He said: “Joe has been hard done by. The linesman gave a penalty, he flagged for it, but the referee felt he should overlook it.