5 MINUTES OF UTTER MAYHEM

27:54

BRIGHTON win a free-kick on the edge of the box. As West Brom keeper Sam Johnstone lines up his wall from the left-hand post, Lewis Dunk spies the vacant other side of the goal.

28:03

DUNK checks with referee Lee Mason, who blows his whistle for the kick to be taken and the Brighton captain curls the free-kick into an empty net. 1-1 (see image below). But Mason, seeing he had not allowed Johnstone to set up properly, blows again as the ball goes in. The goal is disallowed. 1-0

28:49

VAR Simon

Hooper decides the ball had gone in before the second whistle and Mason changes his mind. Goal given. 1-1

29:00

THE goal triggers a full VAR check, which takes a further two and a half minutes. 1-1

31:18

CHECK complete — Hooper decides Mason’s second whistle went before the ball crossed the line and the referee is forced to disallow the goal again. 1-0

33.04

A LIVID Dunk eventually gets to retake the free-kick and shoots tamely straight at the keeper.

LEE MASON gives the free-kick, then mar k s the spot, walks the wall back 10 yards and ensures the goalkeeper is in position.

Lee blows the whistle for the kick to be taken, but realises that Sam Johnstone is still outside of his post organising his wall and immediately blows again. Between those two whistles, Lewis Dunk has quickly taken the kick and scored.

The bottom line is that it is a lapse in concentration from Lee: human error. Fortunately that’s where VAR helps because Simon Hooper looks at the footage, decides t he second whistle was blown before the ball had crossed the line and informs Lee that the correct course of action is to retake the free-kick.