Fans have been left furious on social media after watching Kyle Edwards’ blatantly dive to gift his West Brom side a late winner at Preston last night.
It looked as though Leeds United were going to stay top of the Championship table when the Baggies were being held to a goalless draw by Alex Neil’s side, though a controversial moment prevented that from happening.
With minutes remaining, substitute Edwards made a bursting run through on goal, with Preston goalkeeper Declan Rudd coming off his line to try to reduce the threat, however Rudd was adjudged by referee Olivier Langford to have upend the West Brom player. Watch the moment it happened below…
Austin converts from the spot in the 90th minute after Rudd was harshly adjudged to upend Edwards!
Should #WBA have been awarded a penalty?
Follow all the action from the @SkyBetChamp clash between @pnefc and @WBA live on Sky Sports Football here: https://t.co/03DSvKLS62 pic.twitter.com/1pmyofVGlb
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) December 2, 2019
Replays showed that there was minimal contact between Rudd and Edwards, with the midfielder already making his way down to the floor when the Preston goalie was trying to prevent from making a challenge. Charlie Austin went on to convert the spot kick.
Former professional referee Keith Hackett gave his verdict on the decision…
In refereeing you cannot guess. I harp on about the fitness and movement of referees on the field of play.Webb, Collina and CLATTENBURG set the benchmark. The game needs more athletic officials. Ref was detached from play and guessed and got it wrong. https://t.co/2ABduqQl9y
— KEITH HACKETT (@HACKETTREF) December 3, 2019
Preston’s Alex Neil said: “To be honest, at the time I wasn’t sure whether it was a penalty or not because I didn’t have a good view of it. The disappointing thing is we gave a good account of ourselves, especially second half, and I feel hard done by when it’s a decision like that.
“I just think if you’re going to make that kind of decision, you need to be 100 per cent spot on over whether it’s a penalty or not, but I think the referee’s view, having seen it, is a difficult one. Like I say, I don’t think we deserved that.”
West Brom’s Slaven Bilic said after the game: “I told the guys [Preston] have the best home record so we knew it was going to be tough. First half we were much better, we were just missing the end balls and need quicker reactions and a bit more selfishness.
“Second half we came out stronger, not stronger than us but stronger than in the first half. But we coped well with their long balls and physicality. Then in the last 20 minutes, it was us with numbers again, but without clear-cut chances. A point wouldn’t have been a bad thing but we scored a goal and I think we just deserved it. We didn’t deserve to lose.”
The controversial decision has left many Leeds and Preston fans reeling – check out that Twitter reaction by clicking on the next page.
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