REFEREE Andre Marriner nearly suffered another embarrassing case of mistaken identity during Southend United’s 1-0 defeat at Millwall on Saturday.

Marriner famously sent off Arsenal defender Kieran Gibbs following a handball from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain against Chelsea in March 2014.

And Marriner almost suffered a repeat performance at the New Den after he initially brandished a red card at bemused Blues midfielder Anthony Wordsworth following a late challenge from Will Atkinson who trudged off himself to save the the referee a repeat performance.

Wordsworth tweeted: “He showed me the red card and said off you go.”

Marriner also aggravated the Shrimpers later on in the game at the New Den when he failed to award a penalty when Jermaine McGlashan appeared to be brought down by Tony Craig.

And Blues boss Phil Brown has now received confirmation that a spot-kick should have given.

“The referee’s assessor has come back to Brian Horton and said that it should have been a penalty,” confirmed Brown.

The Shrimpers lost 1-0 at the New Den and will now be hoping to avoid further controversy in this evening’s game at Oxford United which sees referee Darren England taking charge of the important League One clash at the Kassam Stadium.