VIDEO: Owls legend calls for refs to explain decisions

Argentine-born Forestieri was sent off for the second match running in Friday’s goalless draw against the Tigers.

For Forestieri’s second bookable offence, referee Tim Robinson adjudged the Owls striker to have dived under a challenge from Michael Dawson.

Wednesday chief Carlos Carvalhal launched an impassioned defence of Forestieri, claiming the club’s 12-goal top-scorer had to take evasive action to avoid a potentially leg-breaking challenge.

However, yellow cards cannot be rescinded, meaning Forestieri must sit out their next two fixtures through suspension.

Speaking on You-Are-The-Ref show, Hirst said: “If a manager or a player makes a mistake, they are out there in front of the cameras explaining themselves and the referees are not. That’s a big grip of mine.

“If the ref comes out on a Friday and Saturday night and says ‘I got it wrong’, people can accept that. But when they are hiding under the blankets and not coming out with a explanation, it drags and drags.”

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Hirst, who scored 128 goals for Wednesday, claimed Robinson got the decision “drastically wrong”.

“I was at the game and all the people in the stadium thought Dawson was walking, including Dawson,” said the former England international. “When Dawson has turned around and seen the ref has given the free-kick to Hull, he sort of gets his head down and goes past the referee and says ‘thank you very much ref’.

“It’s a horrendous tackle. It’s a good job Forestieri moved out of the way or he could have ended up with a broken leg.”

Since the derby, Dawson has admitted he caught Forestieri and was lucky to escape punishment.

Cautions can currently only be rescinded if it is mistaken identity and former Premier League referee Mark Halsey has called for the rules to be changed.

“It’s got to change,” said Halsey.

“To appeal a red card, they have got to prove the referee has made a serious and obvious error.

“I’m afraid in this case it’s a second yellow so it’s a red card and the Football Association need to look at it. I know Mark Ives (FA Discipline Manager), is looking at appealing yellow cards when a referee has made a serious error in law on issuing yellow cards.

“I really feel for Wednesday as it was a poor decision. I don’t blame him (Robinson) solely. I blame the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) and their coaching and assessing system. The whole thing needs an overhaul because the standard of refereeing at Football League and Premier League level is not where it should be at.”

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