Wolves boss reveals Dan Ballard and Tolu Arokodare conversation after red card controversy

Rob Edwards revealed that Dan Ballard and Tolu Arokodare had shaken hands post match after the former was shown a red card for a hair pull at Molineux on Saturday afternoon.

Ballard was shown a red after a VAR review midway through the first half, with referee Paul Tierney determining that the defender had 'clearly' pulled the hair of the Wolves forward. Edwards said that he sympathised with Ballard but that the current application of the law was clear.

"It's the letter of the law," Edwards said.

"I'm not saying he's meant it, at all. I think the two guys have just been speaking out there, they've shaken hands and they're all fine. It's happened twice with Tolu this year, I know Dan and he's a good lad, he wouldn't have meant it but it's just the letter of the law."

The red card was crucial in the game, with Sunderland leading 1-0 at the time but ultimately pegged back by Santiago Bueno's goal in the second half.

Edwards said he was frustrated his team had not gone on to take all three points in the circumstances.

“I’m frustrated, and all the lads are as well. It was obviously challenging, but the overriding feeling is a lot of frustration," Edwards said.

"We did create some good opportunities, we did some scrambles, there was some moments where we didn’t get the header or the shot away, but we’re there and maybe it should have been a goal, but it wasn’t.

“We tried to push, we tried to get more forwards on, and Sunderland look good when they’re in that sort of block anyway, and I’ve gone up against them last year in the Championship where they’re really effective with it and when they needed to be this year they’re very tough to break down. Then with this situation, I think the pressure’s off and then they go down to 10 and although it eases on them, it ramps up on us even more,

“We could all feel the energy in the stadium and it probably made the players a little bit more anxious than we would like, but we got back in the game and then we were disappointed not to have got the other goal to take the win.

"We made a positive change with Rodrigo coming on at half-time and I thought we started the second half very well. Things were working and we got the goal, but then there was a little bit more of a lull. We finished off with three defenders on the pitch, and we tried to go with as many midfielders and forwards as we could, but we just weren’t capable of finding that second goal. There was also a bit of thinking that we’ve got make sure we don’t lose this because towards the end, it could have gone a little bit either way, but we tried to make as many positive changes as possible and affect the game in an attacking way. We tried to win it, but we unfortunately weren’t able to."

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RLB: Hair pull rule needs reviewing

Sunderland head coach Régis Le Bris said he understood the decision to send Ballard off but that the application of the rule needed reviewing.

Ballard will now miss the rest of the campaign as he serves a three-game suspension for violent conduct.

“We understand the rule,” Le Bris said.

“Paul Tierney is a great referee but the execution of the rule is hard. It's really hard to digest because I don't think it was an intentional and violent conduct. It was a duel in the air with a tall striker, 1.9 metres plus, 100 kilos more or less. Ballard is massive as well... 20 times in the game [they duel] many things can happen but it wasn't intentional. If the rule is the rule, probably when you face a striker with long hair, you'll have problems because you can't defend. It was more or less the case. They executed the rule but I think it's a bit hard to digest.”

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