Because I had nothing better to do and because it was last chance to watch some proper football before we go into yet another meaningless International Break, I decided to watch some of the Liverpool v Birmingham game last night.

It was a pretty good game and Birmingham showed enormous character to come from behind to lead 2-1.

With twenty minutes to go, I always felt that Liverpool would have something up their sleeve and would get a goal back to pull off the draw but the way they got it just left me dumbfounded.

David Ngog got the ball and drove into the Birmingham penalty area. Lee Carsley came sliding in to try to take the ball away for a corner.

It was a tough tackle but the kind that is understandable when an opponent has got himself into a dangerous position.

David Ngog launched himself through the air as if he had been clattered. It all happened so fast that it was hard to say from the camera angle exactly what had happened but replays showed that Carsley was nowhere near to Ngog and Ngog had dived theatrically in order to win the penalty.

Now I have said before that referees should judge on what they see, not on what they didn’t see. The referee cannot possibly say that he saw Carsley make contact because he didn’t make contact.

And this is the point I am coming to.

There have been cries this morning that Ngog should receive retrospective punishment. Perhaps a three game ban for cheating.

I am not totally against that idea and perhaps that should be applied as well but that does not really help Birmingham, I am sure Alex McLeish would rather have the points denied him by the blatant cheating and I’m also pretty sure that Alex McLeish couldn’t care less what happens to Ngog from here on in and as Ngog actually looks a decent player when he is not chucking himself all over the shop, he would probably actually prefer him to be playing against Birmingham’s rivals in the next few games.

Basically, banning Ngog does nothing to benefit the team that has just been cheated but potentially benefits other teams that have nothing to do with the incident.

Clearly, the answer here is an official watching the telly who can take a look at a replay and send a verdict to the referee via an earpiece.

As I have already said, the ball was knocked out for a “goal-kick” so the game had stopped anyway, the ensuing melee as the ref awarded the controversial penalty delayed the game even further so we have a good minute where nothing much is happening other than the spectacle of a referee being harangued from all corners.

Hardly great for the game and as tempers boil over due to the injustice, it usually leads to one of the victims getting a yellow card which just adds insult to injury and increases the divide between referees and managers/players/the fans.

What if the ref could just say, “Calm down lads, I couldn’t exactly see what happened there but the fourth official is having a look at the replay right now.”

Then, within seconds, the verdict comes through. No penalty, a yellow card for Ngog for simulation. Goal-kick.

The retrospective punishment advocates argue that a three game ban would deter players from cheating but I am not sure it would. In the heat of the moment and the here and now of the situation at hand, players might still decide to take their chances.

Last night, Ngog cheated Liverpool to a point. Rafa Benitez would probably pat him on the back even if it did mean that he got a three game ban. He “took one for the team”.

If an instant replay was used to catch the cheaters out immediately so that there’s absolutely no point in such blatant diving, then I believe that would be a greater deterrent.

Am I missing something here because it all just seems too simple to me…???