European-chasing Bournemouth were held to a stalemate by 10-player Crystal Palace after Chris Richards was controversially sent off at Selhurst Park.
Referee Sam Barrott's decision to award Palace defender Richards a second yellow card after a tame challenge on Justin Kluivert late in the first half defined what was a disappointing game for both sides in a footballing sense.
Not only was the yellow card soft, but Bournemouth's Alex Scott had just avoided the same fate following a very similar challenge on Ismaila Sarr when also on a booking.
"That was a minimal touch from Chris Richards," said Clinton Morrison on Soccer Special. "The consistency from the referee has to be better."
Former Premier League referee Mike Dean was in agreement. "For me, he could have just given a free-kick, managed the game, like the way he managed Scott's one before, because then you'll upset one team and not the other.
"If you keep them both on the pitch, everybody is happy. For me, he could have managed that better."
Barrott, who handed out nine bookings at Selhurst Park, then drew the ire of the Palace fans when he chose not to hand Tyler Adams a second yellow for a challenge on Will Hughes, which was no less deserving of a caution.
Bournemouth will see this as a missed opportunity after playing a half with a player more. Failure to build on Monday's win over Fulham opens the door for their European qualification rivals to leapfrog them in the table if they can beat Chelsea on Sunday.
Perhaps it is a sign of how far Bournemouth have come that on the afternoon they broke their record points tally in a Premier League season, the overwhelming feeling will be one of disappointment.
Palace will be glad to have kept a clean sheet after conceding 10 goals in heavy losses at Man City and Newcastle over the past week, but their failure to register a shot on target in a league game for the first time in more than two years is surely a concern.
Glasner criticises referee's lack of 'consistency'
Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner:
"When you have consistency in the game, it's either two red cards or no red cards," Glasner said.
"The fourth official told me it was not enough for Scott to concede a second yellow, so then I think it's not enough for Chris Richards to concede a second yellow.
"This was the feeling everybody had in the dressing room at half-time, not just the players but the whole staff. But the referee decided.
"At half-time, we just had to look at what we had to do in the second half. It's easy now to talk about it, but it's really difficult to deal with the situation.
"This makes me even more pleased with what the players showed today."
Iraola: We cannot be happy with a point
Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola:
"It's a point where probably, before the game, is not a bad result coming to a stadium this difficult.
"But considering how this game has gone, we cannot be happy with this point. No, I think we missed a big opportunity and now it's difficult to value the point.
"Now the margins are very, very small. I feel we have not used this extra player in a proper way."
Timeline of the officiating decisions
29: Richards was first booked by referee Barrott after minimal contact on Bournemouth's Dango Ouattara just under half an hour into the game.
By this time, the referee had already shown yellow cards to Bournemouth's Scott and Adams.
36: Not long after, Scott was spared a second booking when Sarr went tumbling as he drove towards the box after feeling a nudge in the back from the midfielder.
Barrott awarded a free-kick and appeared to communicate to Scott that he was on his final warning.
45+1: Richards was then booked for a second time and sent off in first-half stoppage time after Kluivert went down under a challenge from the defender when breaking.
Clinton Morrison said on Soccer Special that the contact was "minimal" and questioned the official's consistency after his decision not to give Scott a second yellow.
VAR could not intervene over the Richards sending off as the technology cannot be used to review yellow card offences.
