West Brom: BBC journalist blasts ‘Ludicrous’ incident in Championship win v Rotherham
It was a “ludicrous” decision for referee Geoff Eltringham to award West Brom a penalty in the first half of their 2-0 win against Rotherham United on Wednesday (10 April), according to Ged Scott.
Writing on the BBC Sport website on Wednesday (09:01pm), the journalist said Millers defender Lee Peltier was “very unlucky” to have been adjudged to have handled the ball after it appeared to hit him in the face before the referee pointed to the spot.
He added that it was also “not even close” to being in the area, with attacking midfielder John Swift scoring the resultant penalty to double the Baggies’ lead in their 2-0 victory at The Hawthorns.
“Referee Geoff Eltringham is going to have an uncomfortable few minutes back in the ref’s room if they’re showing the TV highlights of the first half – and in particular that ludicrous Baggies penalty,” said Scott.
“First and foremost Lee Peltier was very unlucky to be adjudged to have handballed that as the ball hit him smack in the face. Sad to say but VAR would have sorted that. As to whether it was in the penalty area? No. Not even close.
“The Albion press box is ideally placed to judge on such calls, right in line with the 18-yard line. And estimates have varied between whether he was just a yard or two yards outside.”
Rotherham right to feel aggrieved amid West Brom penalty
It was utterly bizarre to most people to see the referee point to the spot when Peltier clearly looked to be outside the box when the ball hit him.
While his hand was up in the air, replays appear to show that it also hit him flush in the face, adding insult to injury for the defender.
Although it worked out in West Brom’s favour, it was pretty shocking for the officials to not work together and reach the right decision as one of them would have surely had a decent view of the incident.
The standard of officiating in the Championship has been questioned at various times this season and incidents such as this are not going to help their cause.
The important thing for Albion, though, is that they picked up a relatively comfortable victory on the road to securing their place in the playoffs.
In other West Brom news, the club have been told to thrash out a deal for one player after a problem has emerged.
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