Mike Dean in ‘shame’ reaction to Jobe Bellingham controversy in Sunderland win vs West Brom live on Sky Sports with
Jobe Bellingham’s disallowed goal in the first half of the 2-1 win against West Brom was “definitely a wrong decision” and would have “100%” been overturned by VAR, according to Mike Dean.
The former Premier League referee reacted to the incident live on Sky Sports Soccer Saturday (9 December), after Gary Beswick put his flag up to ruled out the Black Cats’ strike when Alex Palmer had spilled a Adil Aouchiche shot into his goalmouth after 15 minutes.
Dean called it a “shame” that a “good” goal was ruled out for an offside against Patrick Roberts who was not interfering with play, while Cedric Kipre was playing the scorer onside.
Dean said (12.54pm): “It’s definitely a wrong decision. He’s onside by at least a yard to be fair. There’s a few things that happened after the initial decision but you can clearly see there he’s a good yard onside.
“The keeper saves it, comes back out to Bellingham, puts in the back of the net and that’s just a goal.
“VAR would have overturned it 100%.”
“How’s the assistant not seen that?” asked Simon Thomas.
“Well he has seen it but he’s seen the wrong thing,” replied Dean. “He’s just made the wrong decision, Gary Beswick.
“It’s just a shame because it’s a good goal, good build-up and should have been a goal, 100%.”
Escape
West Brom had looked the most dangerous through most of the first half, with Grady Diangana in particular looking threatening.
Palmer’s blushes were spared when his mistake almost undercut the good work that had been put in further down the pitch.
A game against a side who have just sacked their manager is always hard to call as the reaction to the departure can go either way, but Sunderland remained a tough prospect during the game on Saturday.
Officiating at every level continues to infuriate fans, and while VAR is usually central to the complaints this was an obvious example of what it was brought in for.
West Brom were spared by the fact it is not in operation in the second tier and made it to the break with the scoreline level at 0-0.
At the same time a video assistant would surely have also intervened in the Baggies’ favour on the foul that saw Josh Maja limp off from first start for the club after a bad challenge from Dan Ballard, so both sides arguably escaped.
It was of course Ballard who then opened the scoring in the second half as Sunderland went on to secure a 2-1 win.
In other West Brom news, the Baggies could let any player leave in the January transfer window.