Maierhofer was booked and sent off yet Howard only received a booking for what was clearly a sending off offence
Yet again Premier league officials are showing they are scared to make big decisions near the end of games. The referee today Stuart Attwell obviously didn't want 40000 mad scousers knocking on his car doorwhen he left the ground
Wolves gaffer Mick McCarthy said of the incident "The red card was harsh, bordering on downright disgraceful to be honest. I felt the first tackle he put in was a booking for the manner he went into the tackle. But this is an intimidating place.
"It all creates atmosphere and the crowd are loving it. But for the first incident, Stefan was just booked for his reaction. But for the second yellow card he did what I would expect any centre-forward in the world to do and that is to run across the keeper's path to stop him clearing quickly, that is all he has done."
He added: "But their 'keeper Tim Howard is very fortunate not to be walking off the pitch too. My understanding is that when you raise your hands above neck high and use your hands to push someone either in the face or close to it, then that is a sending-off. I feel that pushing someone in the back of the head - the back of the head is just above the neck as far as I am concerned - is close to getting a red."
David Moyes knowing that his keeper was extremely lucky has yet to comment on the situation