Keith Hackett delivers Twitter verdict on controversial West Brom penalty incident
The controversy rages on over the penalty that West Brom were awarded on Monday night.
Kyle Edwards went down towards the end of the game against Preston with the score at 0-0. Referee Oliver Langford thought there was enough contact from Preston keeper Declan Rudd to award the spot-kick.
Charlie Austin was coolness personified and slotted the penalty home, sending Rudd the wrong way.
The Sky commentators questioned the decision on the night and now former Premier League referee Keith Hackett has added his voice to the incident, saying he thinks Langford guessed.
Journalist Alan Biggs commented on the clip that was uploaded by Sky Sports.
He said it was “Embarrassing” and added, “Clear dive looking at that clip. Ref seems to be a long way behind to make that call.”
Keith Hackett responded to Biggs saying, “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.”
What do we think? The game is done, the points awarded, we should move on.
It’s obviously easier for us to say that with the three points and West Brom sitting on top of the league, but luck evens out over time. West Brom deserved the rub of the green after the late penalty awarded in the 2-2 draw with Charlton earlier this season.
This isn’t as clear a dive as many and it’s almost impossible to rule out any contact, so we can’t see any way that Edwards is the subject of retrospective punishment.
In other West Brom news, Emile Heskey has shared his thoughts on Harvey Barnes’ loan spell at The Hawthorns.