Leeds and Millwall ‘verbal warnings’ emerge after Elland Road incident – Exclusive
Dean Whitestone has been accused of wasting his time in Leeds United’s 2-0 win over Millwall at Elland Road on Wednesday night.
Leeds returned to the top of the Championship with all three points against Alex Neil’s side thanks to an early own goal by Jake Cooper and a second-half strike by Ao Tanaka.
It was always expected to be a feisty affair between the Whites and the Lions but while there were no major flashpoints, referee Whitestone still had his work cut out to try and manage the game.
Whitestone warns Leeds and Millwall over corner conduct
There was one major bit of controversy in the first half when Leeds forward Joel Piroe thought he had a perfectly good goal disallowed for Brenden Aaronson being offside in the build-up.
Keith Hackett also wanted to see Whitestone allow things to pan out in a way that could have seen the Yorkshire side win a penalty.
After seeing some pulling and pushing in the penalty area when Leeds were about to take a corner, Hackett noticed Whitestone paused the restart to speak to the offenders.
However, the former PGMOL general manager would much rather see these incidents unfold, instead of giving out what he deems to be pointless warnings.
| Played | GD | Points | |
| 1. Leeds United | 37 | +51 | 79 |
| 2. Sheffield United | 37 | +24 | 77 |
| 3. Burnley | 37 | +39 | 75 |
“Once again, after the award of a corner kick to Leeds United, we see holding and grappling taking place before the corner kick is taken,” Hackett told MOT Leeds News.
“Referee Dean Whitestone, who had a good game, stops the restart of the game to have words with a player from each team. The corner kick is then taken.
“Why are referees wasting time on these set-piece situations?
“Restart the game without intervention and then penalise either with the award of a penalty kick or free kick to the defending team.
“Those verbal warnings at these interventions frankly are a waste of time.“
Leeds now nine games away from learning fate
Leeds have the easiest run-in between now on paper and the end of the season.
As it stands, Middlesbrough and Bristol City are the only top-half teams they have left to play in their final nine fixtures, where they also take on relegation candidates such as Oxford United, Luton, Stoke and Plymouth.