Wimbledon v Accrington Stanley

[Kes]

League 2 play off match last - anybody see it?

Half way through the second half, two players challenge in the air from a corner, nasty clash of heads, both players fall to the ground, ball rebounds out to the edge of the box and is played back in by Wimbledon. Referee then immediately stops play with the whistle for the two injured guys to receive treatment and the ball is then "caught" by an Accrington defender who hands it to the referee, who holds it whilst treatment is being given to the players.
Once the treatment and bandaging phase is over, the referee then restarts play with a DFK to the defending team (Accrington) rather than a drop-ball.
Can anybody explain why this happened?

 

[Nij]

No advantage, FK for the careless challenge in the air, then attend to treatment.
Are you sure it was DFK and not just lazy/incomplete signalling?

 

[RegalRef]

No advantage, FK for the careless challenge in the air, then attend to treatment.
Are you sure it was DFK and not just lazy/incomplete signalling?

You 100% wouldn't look to play an advantage for a defending team in their own penalty area, particularly if possession was still being contested.

 

[Kes]

No advantage, FK for the careless challenge in the air, then attend to treatment.
Are you sure it was DFK and not just lazy/incomplete signalling?

Wasn't a free kick for the challenge, or he'd have blown straight away.
The signalling issue doesn't really come into it. My point is that if play is stopped by the referee for an injury, then it's a drop ball restart (in this instance inside the penalty area).

 

[Nij]

You 100% wouldn't look to play an advantage ...

Exactly. There is no advantage to be played, so whistle. A late whistle perhaps, but.

Wasn't a free kick for the challenge, or he'd have blown straight away.
The signalling issue doesn't really come into it. My point is that if play is stopped by the referee for an injury, then it's a drop ball restart (in this instance inside the penalty area).

But if play is stopped for a FK, and then injury also dealt with in the same stoppage, it's not a restart from injury stoppage.
As to whistle timing, see above.

 

[Peter Grove]

Not having seen the incident but based on the description, the most logical explanation is that the ref has decided there was a foul by the attacker in the initial clash of heads. You say he didn't blow straight away but it sounds like it was relatively shortly afterwards - sometimes it takes a few seconds to decide what you've actually seen.

 

[CapnBloodbeard]

Could be the AR got in his ear?

 

[Kes]

Could be the AR got in his ear?

You could be right.
It's not outside the realms of possibility either that the AR had actually raised his flag for an offside when the ball was knocked back into the box, and maybe the ref acknowleged the fact only after he'd blown for the injury stop. That would still have been an IDFK though but there was no raised arm.
It's all water-under-the-bridge now but I just don't like to see referees at that Level do something which I don't understand.
Thanks for the input.....