Keith Hackett: Ousmane Diakite should have been sent off in West Brom draw, PGMOL told to take action

Ousmane Diakite has been told he was very lucky to remain on the pitch as West Brom drew with Preston.

The Baggies were forced to leave Deepdale with a point, as Aune Heggebo rescued a 1-1 draw from behind.

But, James Morrison knows it could have been a very different story.

With West Brom defending deep and trying to clear, Diakite flew into a very reckless challenge at the edge of his own box with a high foot.

Elliot Bell waved away penalty claims from an outraged set of Preston players, with Deepdale furious.

And Keith Hackett believes they were right to feel that way.

Was Ousmane Diakite lucky to avoid punishment?

Even most West Brom fans would likely agreed that the midfielder was.

Morrison quickly replaced Diakite with Rabby Nzingoula after the challenge, which likely tells you all you need to know.

Speaking exclusively to West Brom News, Hackett admitted he cringed at the footage, with the PGMOL urged to take action.

"I winced when I say this challenge which should have seen the West Brom player dismissed for Serious Foul Play and a penalty kick awarded to Preston," the ex-PGMOL chief said.

"Referee Elliot Bell clearly requires some operational advice from ProRef.

"I would sit him across a table and show him the clip. I would then ask him to talk me through his process; Where was he positioned? What viewing angle that he achieve?

"How did he come to his decision not to take appropriate action?

"The PGMOL Referees need to start learning from these errors."

West Brom escape punishment again?

There have been a couple of recent examples which appears to have helped the Baggies.

Mike Dean recently accused Jayson Molumby of cheating to win a penalty as West Brom defeated Blackburn at The Hawthorns.

With the constant discourse around VAR in the Championship, it would be interesting to see how it would have reacted to this challenge.

Diakite goes flying in with a high boot and does touch the ball first, but you see those penalised consistently outside of the box.

It may have counted as endangering an opposition, so the midfielder will likely be told about that in training this week.

Thankfully, it went West Brom's way this week.