Blackburn should get win from abandoned game – Ismael

Blackburn Rovers boss Valerien Ismael says that giving them three points from the abandoned Championship game against Ipswich Town would be the “fairest thing to do”.

Ismael’s side were 1-0 up courtesy of Todd Cantwell’s second-half penalty and the Tractor Boys were playing with 10 men after Jacob Greaves was sent off when heavy rain forced the match to be called off.

With the pitch waterlogged, referee Steve Martin took the players off the pitch after 80 minutes and a decision on whether the game will be replayed in full is still to be made by the EFL board.

A decision is likely to be made by the end of this week.

“We’ve got the right to want the three points because it’s the fair thing to do, especially when the opponent is down to 10,” Ismael said in an interview on the club’s YouTube channel.

A match can only be postponed or abandoned with the approval of the referee, authorities, or by the order of the police.

If a Premier League or EFL game is abandoned after kick-off, but before 90 minutes has been played, the fixture will either be:

Ismael said that the decision to postpone the game was out of his hands.

“I never agreed to stop the game. I had no choice because the referee made clear his point that he had to abandon the game,” he added.

“The pitch was unplayable and he said sorry. I never agreed anything because the decision was already made so that is a clear point to make.”

In addition, Ismael said that the current rules are a “grey area” and could put football’s integrity in doubt.

“It’s a generic problem. It’s a deep problem. It’s a grey area and it’s put the integrity of football in danger because everyone can speculate on anything on any game or try to stop any game,” he added.

“Now there’s room for speculation and influence. It’s difficult to know what will be the outcome but everyone has to take the case very seriously because this case will set a precedent.”

In a statement the EFL said both clubs have until 16:00 BST on Wednesday to make any final representations to the league.