Mark McGuinness helped Ipswich Town to keep a clean sheet on Tuesday night in rather controversial circumstances.

To be clear, there was nothing controversial about Mark McGuinness’ individual performance itself as he took on Northampton Town on Tuesday.

The defender made three clearances, one interception, one tackle, blocked a shot, and won nine of his 12 duels without being dribbled past once. He also completed 88% of his passes including three of four long balls as his team kept a clean sheet.

Yet the match ended in far from normal fashion. With Ipswich Town pushing for a goal, their midfielder Alan Judge was booked for simulation as he looked to win a penalty.

Bizarrely, the referee squared up to the player before showing him the yellow card.

Referee Darren Drysdale appeared to square up to Alan Judge before booking the Ipswich player in their goalless draw against Northampton this evening. pic.twitter.com/ZexMTxYIx7

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) February 16, 2021

The ref then sent off Ipswich’s Flynn Downes for violent conduct a few minutes later, and there’s already talk of an investigation into the official’s actions towards the end of the match.

Thankfully, McGuinness helped his 10-man side over the line for their second clean sheet in the last three games.