(Credit: Sky Sports+, Sheffield Wednesday FC)

Jonathan Burnett

Wed 13 August 2025 21:52, UK

Oliver Langford was perfectly placed to show Bolton Wanderers defender Sam Inwood a red card in their defeat to Sheffield Wednesday.

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Former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official Keith Hackett exclusively told Football Insider that Langford made the correct decision after the centre-back’s foul on Charlie McNeil in their Carabao Cup clash.

Wednesday went into their first-round tie amid the chaos of Dejphon Chansiri’s continued refusal to sell the club despite unpaid wages and several first-team regulars missing, including skipper Barry Bannan.

Henrik Pedersen’s side held their own in Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Leicester prior to Bannan’s controversial second yellow card, but bounced back to edge the 10-man Trotters on penalties after a 3-3 draw in normal time.

Dejphon Chansiri is under pressure to sell Sheffield Wednesday (Credit: Imago)

This article contains exclusive comments from ex-PGMOL chief, FIFA official and former professional referee Keith Hackett.

Wednesday were 1-0 up within eight minutes at the Toughsheet Community Stadium after Guilherme Siqueira’s 35-yard strike from right-back, and things soon went from bad to worse for the hosts.

McNeil threatened to run in behind following a knock-down in the 27th minute, only to be dragged back by Inwood and he hit the deck right on the edge of Bolton‘s box to win a free-kick rather than a penalty.

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Langford immediately blew for the foul and raised a red card in the air for Inwood after a brief pause, leaving the Trotters down to 10 men for the rest of the match as Wednesday looked to turn the screw.

Photo by Cameron Smith/Getty Images

The 10 men of Bolton got themselves back on level terms through Jordi Osei-Tutu, but the Owls were back in front just 60 seconds later through a similarly clinical strike from Ike Ugbo on 37 minutes.

Bolton clung on to eventually equalise through substitute Thierry Gale in the 77th minute, and Amario Cozier-Duberry did likewise in injury time to force penalties after Reece Johnston’s own late strike.

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider about Langford’s decision to send Inwood off following McNeil’s run in behind the Bolton Wanderers defence, the former FIFA referee was in full agreement.

“The referee was brilliantly positioned to determine if a foul had been committed – well done to him”, Hackett told Football Insider.

“Oliver Langford gave himself some thinking time before correctly showing a red card to the Bolton Wanderers player, for a clear denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity.”

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