The late West Ham penalty, in a 2-1 win over Manchester United the day before Erik ten Hag was sacked, was wrongly awarded, according to referees' chief Howard Webb.
Jarrod Bowen scored the winning goal from the spot in the 92nd minute after United defender Matthijs de Ligt was adjudged to have fouled Danny Ings.
The on-field referee, David Coote, did not award a penalty, but video assistant referee Michael Oliver advised Coote to rewatch the incident on his pitch-side screen. After around two minutes of deliberation, and despite Ings appearing to handle the ball, the decision was overturned and a spot-kick was given.
It was less than 24 hours later that Ten Hag was sacked as United head coach, departing with the Red Devils 14th in the Premier League table after a tenure that lasted two and a half years.
Webb, the chief refereeing officer at Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), has made it known that he disagrees with the call to award West Ham the penalty, according to The Times.
In the international break next week, the 53-year-old will appear on the ‘Match Officials Mic’d Up’ programme. It is yet to be confirmed which recent refereeing decisions of controversy will be featured on the show, but it is believed that De Ligt’s ‘foul’ on Ings will be discussed.
Ten Hag was apoplectic about the decision when speaking after the match.
He told journalists in his press conference: “It was so difficult to see. Before the season, there was the instruction about VAR only interfering in clear and obvious mistakes. That is definitely not a clear and obvious mistake from the on-field referee.
“I spoke with them [the match officials]. But the decision is made. There's no way back and that's football. That's a third time I have felt injustice in the season, and it has a big impact on our team and on our scores and where we are in the table. It's not right.”
