Ex ref Dermot Gallagher has delivered his emphatic verdict on the decisions which cost West Ham in the Saints draw after David Moyes’ fury.
Hammers boss Moyes was incandescent with what he witnessed during West Ham’s 1-1 draw at Southampton.
West Ham fans shared the frustration of their manager and then some.
Referee Peter Bankes and VAR official Simon Hooper were in charge of proceedings at St Mary’s. And West Ham felt seriously wronged on three counts.
Two involved Southampton’s goal which put them 1-0 up and the other was the denial of a blatant penalty for a foul on Tomas Souek.
Kyle Walker-Peters had his foot well over the touchline when taking the throw which led to Southampton’s goal.
But ref Bankes actually blocked Jarrod Bowen from getting to the ball after a mishit clearance from Soucek.
West Ham ace Bowen would comfortably have got to the ball first but was blocked by the official and Romain Perraud hit a shot which deflected off Ben Johnson and past Lukasz Fabianski.
It was expected that the goal would be ruled out on at least one of the counts. But Bankes and Hooper adjudged the goal should stand much to the fury of Moyes.
Ex ref Dermot Gallagher’s emphatic verdict on decisions which cost West Ham in Saints draw after David Moyes fury
The Scot’s mood was darkened further when Perraud was seen clearly grappling Soucek to the ground while not looking at the ball as the big Czech had a clear header on goal.
Moyes told the officials they need to go to Specsavers in a furious rant after the game, in which Declan Rice saved the day with a brilliant goal.
Pundits have agreed with Moyes on both counts in the aftermath.
Now we hear ex ref Dermot Gallagher’s emphatic verdict on the decisions which cost West Ham in Saints draw after Moyes’ fury.
And West Ham fans won’t like them one bit.
Speaking on Sky Sports’s Ref Watch, Gallagher said the officials were “unlucky” but correct on all three issues.
“Sometimes I say ‘better to be a lucky referee’ and here the referee is massively unlucky,” Gallagher said on Ref Watch (12.12pm).
“Because if you look, he steps across Jarrod Bowen, what he needs if he’s a lucky referee, he needs that ball to strike him. The minute that ball strikes him he can blow his whistle, restart with a drop-ball and all the pain afterwards that he’s received, from people saying about the goal, goes away.
“But it didn’t strike him, he has to allow play to go on, and unfortunately for him, they scored.
“The referee is deemed part of the pitch (in the rules)… I can’t can I (stop the game if I was the referee), there’s nothing in the law to allow me to stop it. As I say it’s all about consequence isn’t it. And the consequence of that was a goal. If that ball had gone wide, we wouldn’t even be discussing it.
“(For the throw-in) the law says ‘foot has to be behind or on the line’ and if you look, although part of his foot is way in front of the line there’s no doubt about that, the heel of his foot is on the line, so in the law he’s (the ref) covered. Again he’s got no get out of jail (card).
“(On the Soucek penalty appeal) I said earlier if you are going to do this kind of thing you’re running risks and if you get penalised so be it. But the referee didn’t penalise and in that situation I can’t see the VAR really on that occasion sending him to the monitor.”
Both Ref Watch pundits Sue Smith and Danny Mills completely disagreed with Gallagher on all counts feeling the goal should have been chalked off and West Ham should have been given a ‘blatant’ penalty.
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