Dermot Gallagher weighs in on West Brom penalty controversy v Wolves
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has said that Michael Oliver was right to award West Brom a first-half penalty in their win over Wolves.
Callum Robinson was brought down by Willy Boly on the edge of the area eight minutes into last weekend’s Black Country Derby but there was some debate over whether the foul occurred inside the box.
Gallagher believes that Oliver made the right call and cited the decision to award Tottenham a similar penalty in their game against Leeds earlier this season following a coming together between Steven Bergwijn and Ezgjan Alioski.
Speaking on Sky Sports’ Ref Watch segment, Gallagher said, “The precedent has already been set for this.
“With Bergwijn and Alioski we had a similar decision where the player’s body is half in the area and half out and it’s deemed, because he’s partly in the area, it’s a penalty.
“The referee has a great view and the VAR checks if it’s on the line. His body clearly breaks the line and therefore the penalty is given.”
The decision gave Matheus Pereira the chance to open the scoring and the Brazilian provided as he failed to do in the penalty shootout loss to Blackpool in the FA Cup.
This gave Albion a good start to the game and a platform to build on, a platform that looked to have disappeared as Sam Allardyce’s men found themselves 2-1 down at half time.
An exceptional half followed and a 3-2 win was earned as The Dingles couldn’t manage a win against us despite having almost a decade to get ready.
It is about time we had some luck with penalties this season and while this doesn’t quite make up for the disgraceful decision to take away a spot-kick at Old Trafford, it could prove to be huge in our season.
We have now experienced that winning feeling under Allardyce and we must follow it up with another positive result against West Ham.
In other West Brom news, David Moyes has been coy over his star man’s fitness ahead of Tuesday’s clash against the Albion.