Chris Foy speaks out on ‘unusual’ penalty incident in West Brom clash v Birmingham City
Former Premier League referee Chris Foy believes Birmingham City should not have been awarded a penalty in their recent match against West Brom.
The home side won the Championship clash at St Andrew’s on Friday (6 October) 3-1, with their first goal coming from the spot.
A penalty was awarded after Koji Miyoshi went down from a challenge from Cedric Kipre in the first-half, with Juninho Bacuna scoring the spot-kick.
“Both BIR11 and WBA4 challenge for the ball, and a penalty was awarded for the challenge by WBA4,” said Foy, as quoted by Sky Sports.
“This is an unusual situation, where BIR11 appears to slip and WBA4 makes contact through his momentum and in my view, a penalty is the incorrect decision.
“The referee misreads the situation and would have benefitted from creating a better viewing angle. This is more a case of two players losing their footing and coming together, and the best option is to allow play to continue.”
Outrage
Just about every West Brom player was incensed at the decision from the referee to award a penalty at St Andrew’s just after the 20-minute mark. The visiting team surrounded the man in the middle, but he was adamant that a foul had taken place inside the box.
Unfortunately for the Albion, the decision and the subsequent goal turned the game on its head, with the home side using their momentum to score two more times and win the game 3-1.
The defeat will still be of frustration to Baggies boss Carlos Corberan, who is perhaps thinking about what could have been if no penalty was awarded. His side went into an early lead on the road thanks to a fine strike from John Swift just five minutes into the match.
The Albion now sit in 11th place in the Championship table going into the international break, with Birmingham sitting in sixth.
In other West Brom news, a BBC Sport pundit was baffled by one Albion player’s recent international call-up.