‘No doubt’ - Dermot Gallagher rules on major Newcastle United v Sheffield United decisions

Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher believes the decision to award Newcastle United a penalty during their game against Sheffield United was the correct call by referee Tony Harrington. The spot-kick, which came just minutes after the Magpies had gone ahead through Bruno Guimaraes, was given after Anthony Gordon was tripped on the edge of the box.

Harrington immediately pointed to the spot and whilst a quick VAR check was undertaken to ensure the foul had been committed in the area, the penalty was allowed to stand. Alexander Isak calmly slotted it beyond Wes Foderingham to net his 19th goal of the season.

Speaking on Sky Sports’ Ref Watch, Gallagher revealed that despite the first foul initially occurring outside the area, that the technology made the correct call in supporting the referee’s decision to award a penalty. He said: “There is actually two trips [on Gordon]. He catches him there [outside the box] and then again and it’s the second one that is on the line or in the area so he’s well within his rights to give a penalty. I listened to the VAR, they said there was two trips, one inside and one outside so as he’s given a penalty, they go with the second one.”

VAR wasn’t quite done there, however, as they intervened in the dying stages to overturn Harrington’s decision to award the visitors a penalty. Despite getting the ball before Jayden Bogle went down under a challenge, Alex Murphy was the one penalised for the foul, however, a quick check by the officials at Stockley Park instructed Harrington to view the decision himself - one he would then overturn.

In further praise for VAR and the way it was used at St James’ Park at the weekend, Gallagher concurred that the decision to overturn the spot-kick was the correct one: “It is [good use of VAR]. If you look, he definitely gets the ball, there is no doubt he gets the ball and then the player goes down over his leg. It was decided that he did get the ball, he played the ball, and so there’s no foul. Quite rightly.”