Adam Hammill today hit out at the inconsistency of referee Peter Walton after Wolves suffered another costly blow.

Chelsea’s Frank Lampard scored the 88th-minute winner at Molineux yesterday after only receiving a yellow card for a savage tackle on Hammill earlier in the game.

Ashley Cole somehow escaped a caution despite kicking Kevin Doyle twice and upending Hammill and debutant Emmanuel Frimpong.
Hammill and Doyle were booked for retaliating to Cole.

It left Wolves nursing a sense of injustice just a week after Nenad Milijas’ controversial sending off and three-match ban for a far less serious offence than Lampard’s at Arsenal.

“I don’t even think Ned’s one was a foul,” said Hammill. “But what you want is consistency.

“Lampard got booked, and then straight afterwards, I got booked for closing Ashley Cole down and I never touched him.

“You can’t compare those two tackles, they were totally different. There’s no consistency, and that’s what we need to have.

“I knew he caught me late and it was quite high but, as a player, you don’t want to see another pro sent off.”

After the game, Lampard admitted he could have seen red for his tackle, which sparked a rush of five bookings in eight minutes as Walton struggled to keep control of the game.

“My heart was in my mouth over that challenge, I have to admit that,” said Lampard. “There was no malice, but I was late and I might have been a bit lucky to stay on the pitch.

“I said straight away to Hammill I was very sorry.

“I was trying to get my foot in and I was maybe lucky.

“There were a few things that could have gone either way. It was a full-blooded game and I just apologised to the player because I was a bit late.”

Wolves boss Mick McCarthy was disappointed afterwards.

He said: “If it was a booking or a sending-off then just deal with it because I’m not bothered if he’s got a nice character – if it’s deserved do it and if it’s not, then don’t.”