TV pundit slams West Brom striker for ‘awful elbow’ before late equaliser at Chesterfield

TV pundit Danny Murphy slams West Brom striker Brandon Thomas-Asante for an ‘awful elbow’ before the late equaliser at Chesterfield.

The National League side had been leading 3-2 in injury time, but Baggies went on the attack with Thomas-Asante making it 3-3 late in added time of the FA Cup Third Round clash.

But new footage uploaded to social media showed the goalscorer seemingly swinging an elbow towards King, knocking the Spireites player to the ground. However, referee Rebecca Welch, and her assistants, missed the incident.

Brandon Thomas-Asante rescued West Brom against National League Chesterfield.

But should he have been on the pitch?

Jeff King was off receiving treatment when the goal went in 😳#BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/qkNlBhKY4v

— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) January 7, 2023

King went on to leave the pitch for treatment, and as that was happening, Thomas-Asante made it 3-3, leaving the hosts with 10-men.

Murphy said on Match of the Day that Thomas-Asante can expect to be given retrospective action over the next few days.

When asked by presenter Mark Chapman if it may have been different had VAR been in place, Murphy said: “It would have been, 100 per cent. It is an awful elbow. He (Thomas-Asante) gets away with one. Well, he probably won’t get away with it when they have a look at it.”

Murphy said: “Bang. He gets away with it. And of course what happens, we have seen it many times before down the years, a couple of minutes later he gets the equaliser and deprives Chesterfield of a place in the next round.

“Brandon Thomas-Asante was actually one of their best players, he played really well, and he has let himself down with that but he is probably going to face a ban.”

Meanwhile, Stephen Warnock took to praise Chesterfield for how they approached the game.

“Paul Cook sent his team out on the front-foot to go after this game and the way they did it was numbers in the box,” he said.

Analysing their goals, he added: “(Liam) Mandeville was at the heart of everything good that happened for Chesterfield.

“What a day he (Armando Dobra) has had and what an FA Cup run he is having single handedly on his own.”

West Brom boss Carlos Corberan said: “The positive is that we have one more opportunity to make it through to the next round.

Chesterfield boss Danny Webb said, as per Derbyshire Times: “It is a bit raw at the minute.

“The players were so close to what would have been a memorable day in their careers, they can still get that at The Hawthorns but the lads have the right to be a bit sombre.

“It is still a really memorable day. We were so close to a massive upset but that is football.

“If we had held on for a couple more minutes there would have been a pitch invasion and the cameras would have been in the dressing room, but that’s football and that is why you have to be switched on right until the end against these teams.

“It is disappointing to concede so late but to score three goals against a Championship team, everyone can be very proud.

“It is one of the best games I have seen in a long time. It was really exciting.

“Fair play to West brom. We saw the reaction of their supporters at the end when they equalised, how much it means to them to get that replay. Their manager was bringing a lot of big-hitters on at the end. He was not happy that they were losing to a National League team.”

“It was a valiant display and I think they all got clapped off at the end for a reason,” Webb added.

“The manager was very keen for us to be on the front-foot and play with a high press.

“To a man I think we showed so much bravery and I think we can be proud of the performance.

“We will take thousands down there and we will have to do it all over again. Football is about creating memories and hopefully we can create a lot of memories at The Hawthorns.”

This is what Twitter users said as the TV pundit slams West Brom striker Thomas-Asante for ‘awful elbow’ before a late equaliser at Chesterfield…

@GlobalBendemic: Invading the pitch after equalising with a team three leagues below you. 😂

@clairebelles81: If that’s against one of the big premier league teams it will be punished against Chesterfield it will go unpunished!

@5cardsut: Chesterfield were the better team, Baggies got lucky… very lucky.

@jamesjm899: Have to rate the pitch invasion 🤣

@RyanPh8: On the pitch after a last min equaliser against a non league club. English footy is unreal 😂

@pkfsport: I should add for balance that no-one officially saw this at the time, now he Thomas-Asante may get done retrospectively, but that doesn’t put you in the fourth round. Anyway, don’t let this spoil what was an excellent game of football. Deserved replay, Jurgen?

@TomB_CFC: This has made my mood even worse

@PhilTooley: Clear to see, foul, red, no equaliser.

@james_ede06: Cheat

@wallerluke23: Officials very poor today! Chesterfield deserved the win 100%.

@YogiOldfield: Not going to make excuses for the late equaliser. But absolutely no need for this action. Hope the FA look into it. #Spireites #WBA #FACup

@RyanBates14: Bastards robbed

@JayHallsworth: Not sure whats worse….. elbow not been punished by 4 officials or WBA fans celebrating on the pitch for a replay against non league. 100% Chesterfield deserved to win this, very lucky WBA, yet we know the replay will go their way.

@danricketts86: Naughty that was

@stevenwyeth: I try to be sympathetic to those who’d prefer to see VAR binned off but demonstrations of how it could’ve corrected critical, game-changing incidents missed by on-field officials are just more compelling @BBCMOTD #BBCFACup

@LukeMorley94: Defining moment. Gutted

@BlakeeBedfordd: Get the twat banned.

@marciabigg: @HACKETTREF will the @FA look at this retrospectively? If the ref has seen this, it would have been at least a foul rather than a thrown in to them and our player wouldn’t have been off the pitch.

@__henry14: Lucky to stay on pitch

@LRbix: He’s just cheated his way to a last minute goal..

@angiebarker1: Should have been a red card 🤬

@TM_WBA07: Had this been a chesterfield player like the foul on Ajayi that could have been a red there wouldn’t have been any post or any media attention to it

@stelow3: If FA don’t take retrospective action against Brandon Thomas Asante for the is then worlds gone mad, shouldn’t have even been on pitch to equalise.

@CraigMannyMann: Robbed at the death!! Great performance though and so so proud of the spireites today 💙

@dannyhollandCFC: Someone tell me this ain’t a red a dare ya

@paulbowden92: Cheat 🤬

What about this @BBCSport both as bad!! pic.twitter.com/m4xrdaZIOE

— Daniel Hall (@dan_albion) January 7, 2023