‘Scandalous’ – said Chris Davies as he accuses officials of ‘guessing’ after Birmingham have a goal ruled out in defeat at Ipswich.
Birmingham were in disbelief at being denied a goal in the 70th minute after the linesman deemed that the ball had gone out of play in the build-up.
Referee Adam Herczeg controversially ruled that Ibrahim Osman’s ball had gone out of play prior to going in off O’Shea, TV replays provided evidence, with the Birmingham club social media admin also posting a picture of it, writing: “Hmmmm…”
Hmmmm… https://t.co/a8WGIzSXBN pic.twitter.com/RkZ8X1J3ci
— Birmingham City FC (@BCFC) April 6, 2026
Birmingham manager Chris Davies told BBC Radio WM:
“I thought the least we deserved was a point from today’s game. We scored a legitimate goal and I’ve never been as frustrated with a refereeing decision in my entire career in football, because of how hard we worked at a place like this to get into that position.
“For a linesman 60 yards away to guess, when actually we now see the ball isn’t out of play, is very frustrating because the least we deserved was a point from this game.
“You can see from the reaction of the players that it was in play and it’s one person guessing in this whole stadium.
“I asked the linesman straight after the game ‘why did you do that?’ and he said ‘I can assure you the ball was out of play, I wouldn’t have given it otherwise’. But it wasn’t, we’ve seen that and that is as hard to take as anything because of what we gave in the game and what we deserved.”
Speaking to talkSPORT, he added: “The ball had not gone out of play and that was a legitimate goal, and I am absolutely furious that the linesman has made that decision.
“He cannot see that ball and the ball is still in. You can see it on the video.
“So he’s guessed and he’s cost a team that deserved, at the very least from that game, a draw. And he’s guessed.
“The ball was in play. We scored a legitimate goal and it’s been cancelled out.
“For me it’s so, so frustrating.
“When you come to a place like this against one of the best teams in the league, you put all that into it and you carve yourself a chance and for a linesman who’s 60 yards away to guess, and then you find out the ball is actually in play, it’s very hard to take.”
“I asked the linesman as soon as the whistle went and he said to me: ‘I can assure you the ball was out of play. I would not make that decision unless I knew that the ball was out of play.’
“I’ve seen as close as you can get and it’s not out of play.
“So I’m not sure why he gave me that information when I asked him the question.”
Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna said to BBC Radio Suffolk:
“I think first half, we deserved to be ahead for sure. I thought we were outstanding and we were good value to get a couple of goals.
“The half-time whistle came at the wrong time because we looked like we were going to score on every attack.
“The second half was really difficult and you have to give Birmingham credit for that. They’re in a position where they had a swing at it. They’ve got some good players on the bench and brought on good forwards to throw everything at us.
“We didn’t impose ourselves from an attacking point of view as well as we would have liked in the second half and we couldn’t quite get a foothold on it. So then we had to try and be resilient and manage the game well, and we mostly did that.”
On Birmingham’s controversial disallowed goal: “I don’t know whether the ball was in or out. I’ve not seen it back. In the Championship, you’re flipping a coin on those because you don’t know – the referees don’t have the angles, the linesmen don’t have the angles. But I’m not going to give that one a second thought.”
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Here’s how fans reacted after Chris Davies accuses officials of ‘guessing’ after Birmingham have a goal ruled out…
@JoshBCFC_: This is absolutely disgusting btw. I can understand if it was close, mistakes happen. That’s no where near out of play. The linesman should be fucked off far away from EFL level. Fucking disgraceful. #BCFC
@ccfc_07: That’s disgraceful officiating yet again
@mithITFC: Whack it in your next documentary fellas! #itfc #kro
@BluessJack: Things like this should result in a suspension or fine for the linesman, embarrassing mistake its not even narrow… officials need to be held to a higher standard in this country not just get away with errors
@PapaFoledog: Imagine our eternal shock! 😱🙄 @FA_PGMOL you know the address for our latest apology letter 📮 #UnfitToGovern #SortYourSHITout #bcfc
@joephinton: Referees make the championship a laughing stock
@LeeW1875: Shame we dont have the linos position included here. I’d guarantee hes not in line with the touchline to make this split second call with confidence.
@Martyn1988: Yeah it’s shit, we should’ve had at least one pen – swings and roundabouts lads #itfc
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