Former ref Dermot Gallagher explains why Newcastle were denied a penalty vs Wolves

It's nice to get to work on a Monday morning and not have a big rant about VAR to wade through after a game.

Newcastle United's 2-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers was about as low-key an affair as it gets when it comes to controversial refereeing decisions.

In fact, one of the biggest calls the ref had to make was whether or not to award Newcastle a penalty after the ball clearly struck the arm of Wolves defender Craig Dawson in the area.

The ref wanted nothing to do with the incident which saw the ball hit Dawson's arm as he fell to the ground and VAR backed him up.

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Common sense is back for handball decisions

Not only that, but I don't think even the most blinkered Newcastle fan could have argued with the decision.

Once upon a time it would have been given as a penalty and discussions would have gone on for days about the ridiculousness of the hand ball rule, but thankfully a bit more common sense has been applied to what constitutes handball again, and in this case, as was backed up by Dermot Gallagher as part of Sky Sports News' Ref Watch segment, the right conclusion was drawn - unfortunately for Newcastle.

“If you watch, it comes off his own body, bounces and hits his arm. His arm is where you would expect it to be for making that challenge.

“Again, far, far better interpretation of handball. We’re in a far better place after four rounds than we were last year.”

You can't not love Jason Tindall's enthusiasm

Gallagher also chipped in to explain the yellow card shown to Jason Tindall after the bronze adonis picked up a ball to give to Joe Willock to take a quick throw-in, which he ultimately botched and gave away a foul throw anyway.

“Only the players can get the ball off the cone. Jason is obviously wanting to get the play underway quickly.”

If those are the only things worth covering on Ref Watch I'd say we got off with a good game by the officials for once.