Hasenhuttl lets rip over VAR but Wolves too good
Wolves 3 S’hamptom 1
RALPH HASENHUTTL said Southampton were robbed by VAR inconsistencies after two crunch penalty calls went against his side.
The Saints boss was already unhappy when Stockley Park intervened to award Wolves an opening spot-kick just before the break – cooly converted by Raul Jimenez.
But after rookie ref Michael Salisbury was asked to review that one, Hasenhuttl could not believe the same did not happen in the 50th minute as Oriol Romeu was caught by Leander Dendoncker.
Full of praise for Salisbury, in charge of only his second Premier League clash, the same did not apply to Hasenhuttl’s take on video ref John Brooks.
The Austrian said: “The penalty against us, if the ref is made to check the monitor for that one, it should be the same for the one on Romeu.
“But there was no check and I don’t understand the difference. But I thought the referee did a superb job in what was a tough game for him.
“We tried everything and never gave in – it’s disappointing.”
It required a stunning Jose Sa save from Mohammed Salisu’s point-blank header shortly after Jimenez’ penalty to keep the hosts’ lead intact going into the break.
Wolves appeared to be cruising when Conor Coady’s first home Premier League strike made it 2-0 – only for James Wardprowse’s incredible late free-kick to set home nerves jangling.
However, substitute Adama Traore eventually secured the points in added time, which sent Bruno Lage’s Black Country outfit into eighth place in the table.
And that was Lage’s reward for refusing to request the game to be postponed, despite Ruben Neves being ruled out through
Covid yesterday morning, leaving him with just 12 first-team outfield players.
Lage, who gave a debut to teenager Tote Gomes, said: “It was a very hard week trying to prepare but we are in a good moment and we prefer to play these games.
“We don’t want lots of games later in the season. We follow the rules. It’s my job and life to find solutions and to take risks.
“The most important thing is to complain about nothing. I’m very happy how it worked today.”
Romain Perraud thought he had levelled for the Saints when his header struck the bar late on but Traore finished the game off.