Paul Heckingbottom fumes at the ‘diabolical’ decision to award Bristol City their opener against Preston on Saturday afternoon.
Fans in the stadium and watching on TV were left stunned after Yu Hirakawa seemed to PUNCH the ball through goalkeeper Freddie Woodman’s gloves, just as he was reaching out for it.
The Japanese attacker then ran onto the ball and walked it into the net as Preston’s keeper watched on stunned as the blatant cheating being missed by the officials.
Footage of it soon emerged online and quickly went viral, leaving fans amazed it was not ruled out.
Preston managed to got level the score in the 48th minute, courtesy of a goal from Sam Greenwood. Nevertheless, it was Bristol City who went on to secure all three points.
Nahki Wells restored the visitors’ advantage just three minutes after the hosts’ leveller, then Max Bird got on the scoresheet with 10 minutes remaining.
Preston manager Paul Heckingbottom hit out at the decision not to rule out Hirakawa’s goal as “diabolical”.
He said: “Yeah, listen, we will get another apology this week. We had two apologies for two bad decisions at Millwall.
“We had an apology for a decision at Burnley and we will get another one for that, I am sure.
“And, they will get more games to go and referee.
“There is nothing we can do about it. It’s diabolical, unacceptable and we keep getting the wrong end of them. Hopefully, it evens itself out.
“One of them is saying they have seen something, that they have obviously not seen because it didn’t happen.
“So, yeah, miles off it. We have had four now in the last seven games or whatever it was, from the Millwall game. But, it’s part of the game and we have to accept it.
“We have been fortunate enough to, although it has cost us points, ride through those.
“We’ve been able to get back in games and get our heads above water. Today, it has affected us.”
Bristol City manager Liam Manning insisted his side “deserved the win” after the match.
He said: “I am super proud of the players. It wasn’t pretty at times but I can’t take anything away from the lads.
“The way we defended the box, the togetherness and the spirit after the challenge of going 1-1, to then respond as we did with two outstanding moments of quality – we deserved the win.”
Bristol City XI: O’Leary, Tanner (Roberts 22’), Vyner, McNally, Dickie, Sykes, Knight (c), Williams (McGuane 34’), Bird, Hirakawa (Mehmeti 87’), Wells (Armstrong 87’).
Subs: Bajic, Naismith, Earthy, Cornick, Mayulu.
PNE starting XI: Woodman; Storey, Lindsay, Hughes, Potts (Bowler 67’), Whiteman (Okkels 84’), McCann, Kesler-Hayden, Frokjaer (Holmes 67’), Greenwood, Riis.
PNE unused subs: Cornell, Whatmough, Best, Ledson, Thordarson, Stewart.
Attendance: 14,261 (944 away)
Here’s how Twitter users reacted as Paul Heckingbottom fumes at ‘diabolical’ decision to award Bristol City their opener against Preston…
@PNEhomeandaway: Another apology coming our way
@purefootballX: How did none of the officials see this?
@HParkz10: The more I watch it the more angry I get. Results the same never the less but beyond pathetic #pnefc
@LewispAVFC_: This is why I laugh at people who think we should get rid of VAR in the prem, they forget just how awful these refs are
@pnefc33: TWO at Millwall, ONE at Burnley and another today against Bristol… at what point does it stop ? APOLOGIES do fuck all. #pnefc
@DOMISMONEY: Every time someone says they don’t want VAR, this is what happens. Clear handball, but nothing called because refs didn’t see it. #PNEFC down because of pathetic refereeing and a lack of necessary technology
@louise_pne: Referee is shocking.
@sam06pne: Disgraceful refereeing display, we deserved that loss second half but ref tried his best to leave an impact on the game #shambles
@powellBFC93: Great refereeing, always liked efl refs…
@tom_coulston: I’ll forever be against VAR for the most marginal offsides but fuck me how many times do officials want to get the most basic of decisions wrong? Blatant handball today, Riis 5 yards on vs Burnley. Wank. #pnefc
@KrisBlundell: Retrospective action should be taken against the Bristol player for that handball. Two match ban or something. Awful cheating #pnefc
@GibMonkeyPompey: If football, as a collective, had any ethics or morals, they would use video tech to retrospectively to review these sort of cheating antics. Then give the player a 5 or 10 match ban after the match. It would stop this sort of thing overnight. Problem is there is no consequence.
@JamesWorden85: Never understood why players don’t get retrospective bans for these types of things. Surely there’s got to be some sort of deterrent to put a player off from even trying this.
— Elliot Bennett (@elliotgbbennett) November 2, 2024
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