MARK CLATTENBURG: VAR was right to allow Middlesbrough’s controversial equaliser to stand because ref Anthony Taylor believed Duncan Watmore’s handball was accidental and the law was changed last summer
- Equaliser was allowed to stand due to change to the handball law last summer
- Duncan Watmore’s control of the ball with his hand was viewed as accidental
- And because Matt Crooks scored, and not Watmore, it was the right decision
Middlesbrough’s goal was allowed to stand because of a change to the handball law last summer.
Duncan Watmore handled the ball before finding Matt Crooks, who scored.
But the tweaked law says a goal will only be disallowed if the scorer handles the ball — not the player in possession before him.
Duncan Watmore handled the ball in the build-up to the Middlesbrough equaliser
And in this case, that was Watmore.
Referee Anthony Taylor could have blown if he believed there had been a deliberate handball by the Boro man.
He didn’t think it was deliberate because a miscontrol by Watmore meant the ball flicked up to hit his arm, and I agree with that verdict.
It was accidental, so it was right that the goal stood.
Ref Anthony Taylor did not blow up as he believed it was accidental handball by Watmore
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