Analysis of January Poll Question

Here's the scenario again:

Red player is attacking Blue in Blue's penalty area. From left to right, Blue #7 and Red #2 are standing on the goal line as a Red player shoots at the goal. The ball's path is heading to the right of Red #2(his left),who is standing still. Blue #7 pushes Red #2 into the path of the ball. The ball continues in play and goes out of the penalty area.

Three referees risked and submitted their decisions. Let's break down the situation:

Choice #1: Let play continue - not an option here as clearly a foul has been committed (push) by Blue #7.

Choice #2: Apply advantage - This is better option than #1...the ball is bouncing around near the goal and it might go in, only thing is...the ball has bounced out of the penalty area, and it does not look like there is any advantage left for the Red team.

Choice #3: Stop play, award PK; Send off Blue #7 and show red car for denying a goal scoring opportunity by committing a foul that is punishable by restarting with a free kick. YES...this is the best option. Blue could not get to the ball himself as Red #2 is standing to his left. Blue's push of Red #2 into the ball, keeps the ball from scoring. Pushing is a DFK foul, in this case punishable by a PK. Pushing his opponent into the path of the ball prevented a goal-scoring opportunity, thus Blue #7 must be sent off.

Choice #4: Stop play, award a PK, Caution Blue #7 for unsporting behavior. The explanation above demonstrates why this choice is not the best. This choice might have been the best had the ball scored despite the foul by Blue.

To be honest, I have never seen this scenario, but occurred to me one day and I wondered how I would handle it. It's important to rehearse and be better prepared for the unexpected.

Last thought. Some of you astute refs might be questioning the point of Red #2 being in an offside position. While it's possible, it was not stated in the scenario. But let's consider that Red #2 was in an offside position, at the point Blue decides to break up the play by pushing his opponent into the path of the ball, Red #2 has NOT demonstrated that he was involved in any active play. To interfere with play, Red #2 would need to play the ball and we cannot presume he was going to do that; To interfere with an opponent, Red's position may have kept Blue from gettting to the ball, and if so, he would be guilty of interfering with an opponent. The referee would have to form an opinion that Blue's position (distance from the ball) would have been close enough that he could have reached the ball had Red #2 not been there.

Any comment?