MOYES FUMES AT FARCICAL FINISH
THE Video Assistant Referee arrives in England in a few days’ time for the FA Cup. After games like this it cannot come soon enough.
West Ham saw two points slip away after a bizarre moment when Callum Wilson’s added-time goal was ruled out — then allowed.
Unless referee Bobby Madley explains his decision — and that is not likely to happen — players, managers and fans will remain in the dark about why.
Did assistant Simon Long put his flag up because Wilson was offside when he headed home, or because he thought it was handball? When Madley gave the goal, was it because he thought Wilson had not touched it and therefore was not interfering? Or because he thought when the ball went from his head to the net via his shoulder it was an accidental handball?
The one thing that TV replays showed was that Wilson was offside and that he touched the ball both with head and shoulder.
No wonder both managers were left scratching their heads.
West Ham manager David Moyes said: ‘If he raises his flag what would it be for? Offside. Which arguably you could say it is. I can give the benefit of the doubt over offside, but I can’t do that for him scoring with his hand. None.
‘He only flagged for offside. So if you over-rule the offside then you say that it doesn’t matter that he put the ball in with his arm.
‘I think he said the assistant referee only put his flag up to draw attention to it, but I have never heard of that, ever.
‘I thought there was no way he would overturn it. Why would you? Look, I wish I wasn’t talking about referees. I think the referees in this country do a good job. It’s a tough game. But it was costly for us.’
Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe admitted: ‘It looks like we might have got away with one. I thought once the flag had gone up that it wouldn’t be given, especially because of the length of the conversation they had.’
The game threatened to boil over in the first half when Simon Francis caught Cheikh Kouyate in the face with his studs as he stretched to reach a high ball.
Madley showed a yellow card, much to the annoyance of Moyes. ‘If one of my players had done that everybody would have been screaming for him to be banned for six or seven games,’ he said. Howe countered: ‘That’s one I think the ref got right. It was in front of me and Simon was only ever looking at the ball.’
Moyes had made a big call before the game by dropping Winston Reid after the defeat by Newcastle and recalling James Collins. It looked a good one as the 34-year- old defender got on the end of Aaron Cresswell’s corner to head home after seven minutes.
Bournemouth equalised with Dan Gosling’s left-foot strike and went ahead when Lewis Cook curled in a cross that saw Nathan Ake get in front of Pedro Obiang to score. It looked to be slipping away from West Ham until Marko Arnautovic struck twice — making it five goals in five games for the striker — to put his side ahead with a minute of normal time left.
His first was the reward of hard work as he chased down Adam Smith’s back pass before Asmir Begovic slipped and presented him with an open goal. The second was a tap-in after Javier Hernandez’s shot fell to him in the box.
That set up the controversial finish — and left a Boxing Day mystery that only Madley knows the answer to.