‘WE DIDN’T RECOVER FROM VAR DOUBLE WHAMMY’
EDDIE HOWE could be excused if he didn’t want to set foot in Turf Moor ever again after an afternoon when the game went bonkers.
The former Burnley manager, whose 21-month tenure here didn’t exactly pull up any trees, was taunted with chants of “Eddie, Eddie what’s the score?”
To be honest, by then he probably didn’t have a clue as VAR appeared to launch an officialdom war on the south coast club.
Already smarting from a Josh King goal being scrubbed off by the Stockley Park party poopers and seeing Matej Vydra thump the home side into the lead, he thought that Harry Wilson had equalised after a brilliant counter attack.
Wrong. Back we went to Burnley’s last attack and a cross from Dwight Mcneill which appeared to have been handled by
Bournemouth’s Adam Smith. Cue VAR, not for Wilson’s prod home from Callum Wilson’s sharp pass but for the preceding incident.
After another interminable wait referee Mike Dean took play back up the other end and awarded Burnley a penalty for Jay Rodriguez to confidently fire past Aaron Ramsdale to make it 2-0. It was all too much for Bournemouth goalkeeping coach Neil Moss who was shown a red card by Dean and forced to sit with the travelling fans.
And when the impressive Mcneill curled a 20-yard drive into the corner of the net three minutes from time Bournemouth’s mad afternoon was complete.
Howe said: “It was so difficult. A three-goal swing against us was too much. Once the second decision happened we fell apart a bit mentally.
“Up until that point we’d been the better team. We didn’t recover. The double whammy is they went and scored. The only positive is we have to use this as extra fuel. We have to create a siege mentality that everyone is against us if we want to stay in the division.
“In the end Mike Dean didn’t give the decisions. I don’t blame him for that. It’s the process of VAR.”
It had all appeared to be going well when King burst on to Philip Billing’s flick on from Andrew Surman’s corner to hammer home.
But a VAR check commenced as Bournemouth celebrated. It was adjudged the ball had struck Billing on the top of the arm although there were no Burnley complaints.
Vydra turned the screw by seizing on a through ball from Mcneill in the 53rd minute, weaving his way into area and finishing confidently.
Burnley boss Sean Dyche said: “I am pleased with what he has given the team.
“It was a strange day for VAR. That’s as tough as it gets, especially when it awarded us the penalty. I don’t think something like that will happen too often.”