Keith Stroud is an excellent referee with a huge amount of experience who has dealt with massive pressure. And yet for some inexplicable reason he got wrong a basic law known to every local park referee.
Wednesday night, sitting in the referees’ dressing room at St James’ Park, he will have been overwhelmed by sadness, incredulous that he could have made such an error.
There would have been some very awkward moments between the four match officials.
Some acute embarrassment and perhaps a little finger-pointing.