Wolves fumes at VAR disallowing their late equaliser as David Moyes and Lucasz Fabianski agree that it was a bad decision.
‘Scandalous’ was the word Wolves boss Gary O’Neil used as he reacted to the ‘terrible’ VAR decision the denied them a draw against West Ham.
Wolves went ahead in the 33rd minute through Pablo Sarabia’s penalty then West Ham equalised with Lucas Paqueta’s penalty with nearly 20 minutes left on the clock.
James Ward-Prowse netted the winner from a direct corner on 84 minutes, and then Max Kilman’s late header ruled out in controversial circumstances.
Max Kilman headed home Wolves’ leveller in the 99th minute, but VAR ruled it out. Tawanda Chirewa was deemed to in an offside position and blocking Lukasz Fabianski from making the save, therefore interfering with play.
It led to a heated scenes with players venting anger at the referee Tony Harrington and his officials come full time, with a number of yellow cards also shown to Wolves’ player and staff.
Gary O’Neil said after the match, per Sky Sports: “My view, David Moyes’ view and (Lukasz) Fabianski’s view is that it is a scandalous decision. Terrible. I don’t understand it.
“I can’t think of an explanation to be honest. It is one of the worst decisions I have ever witnessed.
“No (I haven’t had an explanation from the match officials). I wasn’t calm enough when I went in there to receive one. I don’t know where they are with it at this moment. An explanation doesn’t help us.”
He added: “I’ll you why it is a terrible decision. The only way he (Kilman) could be impacting the goalkeeper is if he impacts how he can move, which is doesn’t, and if he impacts his vision, which he isn’t. If you watch the side view, Fabianski can clearly see the ball.
“Game-wise (we were) excellent in the first-half. It was fantastic for the boys to produce that performance with what we have available versus what West Ham have available. It was a top performance to be that dominant. Exceptional.
“Second-half they went a little more man for man. We struggled with being able to get out. We had a lack of threat in behind.”
“It’s scandalous, terrible and horrendous decision” 😤
Gary O’Neil slams referee Tony Harrington’s decision to rule out Wolves’ late equaliser 😯 pic.twitter.com/289JY3B32Z
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 6, 2024
Gary O’Neil says the decision to rule out Wolves’ late equaliser against West Ham was “crazy”.
Tawanda Chirewa was deemed to have impeded West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, even though he was getting nowhere near Maximilian Kilman’s header.#BBCFinalScore #WWFC pic.twitter.com/Mg6tltVtwN
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) April 6, 2024
West Ham boss David Moyes to BBC Match of the Day:
“Wolves played well in the first half and we came out and played well in the second half. I have to say the substitutions – they don’t always work but they did today and the boys who came on did a great job.
“I’m still not convinced it [Wolves’ goal] was a penalty kick but the referee gave it – although we played poorly in the first half the biggest positive we took from it was we were only a goal down and that was from a dubious penalty.
“We made a couple of changes to see if we could bring something else to the party because we had shown nothing in the first half – all the basic things were missing, our play in the first half was so bad but the second half was completely different.”
On James Ward-Prowse scoring direct from a corner:
“James has a great delivery as we know and I still think we should be scoring more from them but if he puts them straight in from there. I’m happy! The conditions were a bit blustery but I don’t want to take anything away from James’ technical ability to score from there.”
On the late VAR drama that denied Wolves an equaliser:
“I think nearly every decision today was a VAR call, we were all unhappy. We’re all pretty disappointed generally with a lot of the things going on. We’ve certainly had a terrible run of decisions – that last one might be one that’s gone in our favour but when I’ve seen it back, he’s definitely standing in front of the goalkeeper.
“I think it was probably the right decision but I can understand how Gary O’Neil would see as it as a very harsh call – but I thought the penalty kick in the first half was a really harsh call for us.”
Wolves defender Max Kilman, who had a stoppage-time equaliser ruled out in the defeat to West Ham, speaking to Sky Sports:
“To be honest, I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve never seen a moment like this happen before. We are all absolutely gutted and we deserved something from that game.
“I haven’t watched it back but it was a clear header, the keeper couldn’t even see it, there was nothing he could do [to stop it].
“We knew in the second half it would be a different West Ham team coming out – we didn’t keep possession like we did in the first half and they did take their chances but it was really tough to take how it ended.
“We haven’t won in the last few games, we’ve got a few injuries but we’ve got great players, a really good group and we need to stay together as we’ve still got a few games to go to get some results and make sure we get as high up the table as we can.”
West Ham midfielder James Ward-Prowse, speaking to BBC Match of the Day after scoring direct from a corner in the win against Wolves:
On whether he intended to score from the flag-kick:
“Before the game we spoke about hitting the target with corners. It’s a difficult one for the keeper to defend because there are lots of bodies in his way and if nobody touches it, hopefully it goes in – and that was the case today, so I’ll take it.
“It’s something I don’t think keepers like to face when it’s in-swinging – it was a bit of a windy day, a few storms knocking about, so I used it to my advantage and thankfully it paid off. I’ll give Storm Kathleen an assist for sure!
“I’ve never scored direct from a corner before but my mum and dad always said to me as a kid to do it, so I’ll give credit to them!
“The first half was probably one of our worst performances of the season – we didn’t move the ball quick enough, we didn’t get enough pressure on the ball, we sat off and gave them too much respect in a way.
“But I think in the second half we showed why we are where we are and where we want to go, it was a proper West Ham performance and one we can be proud of.”
Player ratings
Wolves: Sa (6), S Bueno (6), Kilman (6), T Gomes (7), Semedo (7), J Gomes (7), Doyle (6), Ait Nouri (8), Doherty (7), M Lemina (7), Sarabia (7).
Subs used: Cunha (6), Traore (6), Chiwome (6), H Bueno (n/a), Chirewa (n/a).
West Ham: Fabianski (6), Coufal (6), Mavropanos (6), Zouma (7), Emerson (6), Alvarez (6), Soucek (6), Kudus (6), Ward-Prowse (7), Paqueta (6), Bowen (7).
Subs used: Johnson (8), Antonio (7), Cresswell (7).
Player of the match: Rayan Ait Nouri.
Twitter users gave their reaction as Wolves fumes at VAR disallowing the late equaliser as David Moyes and Lucasz Fabianski agree it was a bad decision…
@XXXTANNERTACION: It’s embarrassing. Just swear Gary. Just say it’s Fucking embarrassing it’s pathetic and it’s pointless playing.
@cshepstatto: Wolves and Forest have been shafted the most this season, which means everything will be spot on next week 🤣 #NFFC
@whudyl: Book the knob and have him suspended
@ReservoirJogs: Ex refs, ex players and 99% of football fans on here are saying the same thing, it’s a goal! Tim Robinson on the other hand in the VAR room has seen fit to send Tony Harrington to the screen he hasn’t got the common sense or bollox to give the goal Fuming #wwfc
@StevenCross81: Outrageous decision and he’s right
@julewolves: Robbed again well done @FA_PGMOL @SkySportsPL
@Dale_wwfc: Corrupt as fuck
@OCowton01: Keeper getting absolutely nowhere near it, not one West Ham player appeals for offside or complains. But yeah we’ll overturn it anyway. Fuck VAR, Fuck Tony Harrington, and fuck you
@FA_PGMOL
@JakeHarris_96: I don’t know how this guy keeps his head. I would be considering hitting that shit cunt of a ref
@subwayarmy39: We will have an apology come Monday, yea great thanks! Something needs to happen with VAR! It’s us the fans that make the game what it is so it’s up to us to do something about it because the game has gone. #PremierLeague #Corrupt #WWFC
@Dave_the_Wolf: Absolutely shocking decision 😡
@jon306: Another awful decision, possibly the worst of the season. Imagine that happens to someone like Luton on the last day and sends them down? #wwfc
@ScottCurtiss: If media never showed referees face or name, and he wouldn’t be headline news tonight…does Harrington make the same decision? Hope he enjoys hearing his own name in all the media tonight 👏 #wwfc #WOLWHU
@JW_WWFC: Simple. Calculate where we’d finish with the extra 8 points that we’ve been robbed of and sue the Premier League for the additional amount of money we’d have won. Don’t put up with another “apology.” #wwfc
@stu_b1989: Its ok, we will have another apology, surely we can cash them in for something at the end of the season the amount we have now??
@JakeLongworth: He’s absolutely spot on by the way. VAR is a terminal illness in our sport. The game we loved has gone. #WWFC
@david_butler0: What a sad sad sad little man Tony Harrington is
@davidoddy: I swear Wolves get shafted every weekend by VAR! Have to feel for them! I like O’Neil
— Robbie (@RobbieMeakin) April 6, 2024
Again, instead of discussing the missed chances and the what if’s that come with football, we are instead talking about VAR. Just give us back our game, stop trying to defend whatever VAR is.
WITHOUT FANS FOOTBALL IS NOTHING.
It really is that simple.#wwfc pic.twitter.com/Fts14kxdh8
— OGP (@oldgoldpack) April 6, 2024
I’ve just seen an absolutely shocking decision in the Wolves game, never ever should be ruled out that, disgusting decision #VAR #Wolves
— Jamie Ohara (@Mrjamieohara1) April 6, 2024
The Tony Harrington Show today, this man is NOT fit to referee… 😡😡 @FA_PGMOL pic.twitter.com/H5RelXj4nZ
— 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐋𝐅𝐏𝐀𝐂𝐊™️ (@Wolfpackwwfc) April 6, 2024
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