It was one of those days for referee Roger East, the problem for the Premier League official is those days come around far too regularly.
Perhaps he hoped he could go unnoticed and actually avoid some criticism during his latest trip to Dean Court, but instead he took centre stage awarding three penalties, failed to take control of the game and in general got most things wrong.
If someone handed him a compass he would have failed to find his own name on Saturday.
The first penalty award for a foul on Joshua King is a difficult one, there is contact and enough to bring him down, its clumsy at worst so you’d feel aggrieved if you were on the receiving end.
The second penalty award was for a foul by Adam Smith, these ones are rarely given, the attempt at goal wasn’t prevented but he catches his man on the slide, it looked an odd decision.
The third penalty, East initially looks to be giving a free kick then awards a penalty, perhaps influenced by his linesman? With the benefit of super slow motion and multiple angles its a centimetre or two outside the box, but not the howler the Wolverhampton Wanderers fans will argue.
East could also have awarded a fourth penalty on the day for a handball by Chris Mepham. But East initially missed the foul on Jordon Ibe prior to the clumsy deflection by his arm. Handball is supposed to be deliberate if punished and it’s obviously not deliberate.
Other discussion points, Jefferson Lerma was booked for an elbow on Joao Moutinho, which could have been a red card.
Meanwhile, Joao Moutinho could also have been sent off as he could well have picked up multiple yellow cards for various fouls, dissent following the altercation with Lerma and eventually being booked for further dissent following Joshua King’s penalty miss.
AFC Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe told afcb.co.uk…
“There were a lot of incidents and decisions which, depending on which club you support, that sways your view. In all honesty, I thought the foul on Ryan for our second penalty was outside the box.
“There was a tangle of legs for our first penalty, but the one I have the biggest opinion on is the one awarded to Wolves.
“You rarely see them given. Adam Smith had committed to his challenge before Matt Doherty got his shot away. I really wasn’t expecting a penalty to be given.
“Initially, I was very hesitant on VAR, but now that I’ve seen it, I think it would be a good thing. The only danger with it today would have been that many of the incidents weren’t clear-cut, so it’s still ultimately someone’s interpretation that decides it…”
NWCherries98 wrote…
Every single penalty was the wrong decision in my opinion. Looks like Joshua King takes a tumble into the outstretched leg of the defender. Their penalty was just ridiculous. Never seen anything like that. I was sat right in front of the third one. At the time I thought it was in the box but it definitely wasn’t. In my opinion, the Chris Mepham one isn’t a penalty, but you can’t really complain if it’s given. Very very lucky today. And should’ve taken advantage. – Join the conversation, click here.
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