Ex-ref disagrees with Eddie Howe on Newcastle United v Fulham incident after surprise verdict

A sole Bruno Guimaraes goal nine minutes from time secured a vital win for Newcastle United at Craven Cottage on Saturday afternoon, just minutes after the Magpies thought they had opened the scoring through Fabian Schar. The Swiss international pounced on a loose ball in the box to fire past Bernd Leno in-front of a jubilant away end - only for referee Sam Allison to rule-out the strike after VAR intervention.

The technology instructed Allison to check whether Dan Burn had fouled Calvin Bassey as the pair jumped for a header just moments before Schar swept the ball home. After a lengthy check at the monitor, Allison signalled for a foul and Fulham were spared - albeit, as it turned out, only very temporarily.

Speaking on Sky Sports’ Ref Watch, Dermot Gallagher gave his opinion on the incident, revealing his belief that the officials got the call correct: “Good intervention.” Gallagher said. 

“At the time I thought it was a foul on Bassey and I still do. He has both arms in the back, he pushes him, gets above him and stops him from heading the ball. Foul for me.”

Although it didn’t end up costing Eddie Howe’s side on the day, Newcastle United’s head coach revealed he was disappointed by the decision to disallow Schar’s goal. He said: “I thought it was a goal. I thought Dan has gone in with force but it is a fair challenge.

“I’m really surprised that VAR firstly indicated that there could be a foul and then the fact the referee didn’t stay with his original decision. I think the referees need to take more accountability when they go [to the monitor] and stick with their decision sometimes because for me it was the right call, the original one was right and I’m disappointed that goal didn’t count.”

Sue Smith also gave her view on the incident, with the former England international claiming she was still ‘torn’ on the call almost 48 hours later: “I was really torn [on Saturday] and I am still really torn.” Smith said. 

“I think Dan Burn is generating power with his arms to try and get the header, but yes he is impeding Bassey from getting the ball so I can see it from both sides. I’m torn on this one.”