‘Not a foul’ - Ex-Premier League referee delivers verdict on key incidents between Newcastle United and Fulham

A tight contest between Newcastle and Fulham threatened to boil over in the 66th minute when Fulham were awarded a penalty following a foul by Kieran Trippier on Bobby Decordova-Reid. After initially waving away the protests, referee Rob Jones was asked to review the incident following recommendation by Mike Dean on VAR duties.

Rob Jones subsequently awarded the penalty but Gallagher believes that the hosts can count themselves a little unfortunate to see that decision go against them.

Gallagher said on Sky Sports Ref Watch: “This is a very interesting clip because if you look, Decordova-Reid actually steps on Kieran Trippier’s foot first of all and then Trippier catches him with his other foot that brings his leg over onto it and brings him down.

“The referee was asked to go to the screen and gave a penalty, but that could have easily been a free-kick the other way. You could have easily said Decordova-Reid catches Trippier first.”

On the decision to disallow Aleksandar Mitrovic’s spot-kick, Gallagher added: “Great spot by the referee as this was a decision picked up on the field.”

After the game, Fulham boss Marco Silva was left angered that his side weren’t awarded a penalty moments before Trippier’s foul on Decordova-Reid, believing Dan Burn should have been given a red card for his tug on Andreas Pereira.

Silva said: “It is clear. The rules are clear. It is a clear penalty and a red card. We can win, we can lose in the same way, but the game would be completely different if you play the game with ten players.”

Despite Silva’s protestations, Gallagher believes Jones made the correct call to not award a penalty for this incident, although he admits Burn would have seen a red card had the referee pointed to the spot.

“He goes down too easily. Referee waves straight away to tell the player to get up and waves it away straight away. For me it’s not a foul but what I would say is if it was a foul, then it would be a red card. But I don’t think it’s a foul.”