Former referee Dermot Gallagher explains how Newcastle United's penalty against Tottenham Hotspur was awarded
Newcastle United were handed a golden opportunity to take three points off Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday night when they were awarded a penalty in the 86th minute.
Anthony Gordon stepped up and dispatched the penalty with aplomb, restoring Newcastle's one-goal lead before Cristian Romero popped up again to cancel it out in stoppage time.
The actual awarding of the penalty has been the cause of a lot of debate amongst pundits, with many agreeing with the call, while also questioning the severity of the foul itself.
As Danny Murphy pointed out on talkSPORT, it's a challenge we see go unpunished week in week out, but on this occasion, VAR sent the referee to the monitor and the penalty was awarded.
Dermot Gallagher says it was a 'mystery' why Thomas Bramall didn't award the penalty without the VAR intervention
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has clarified the process on Sky Sports' Ref Watch, agreeing with the decision, but does question why it took a VAR intervention to award the penalty.
"Just before that corner was taken, Thomas Bramall actually went to the two players, and he's told [Rodrigo] Bentancur you're facing the wrong way. He's actually told him. If I was the referee, that's what I'd be focused on.
"The one thing I would say is that the clubs have been warned about is the player not facing the ball, which he never is; he's never facing the ball, he runs the risk of giving a penalty away.
"The next question is, the VAR looks at it, is it a clear and obvious error? Well, they're grappling; what you're saying is he's not looking at the ball. The referee clears it, the VAR says no, the referee goes to the screen, and he sees something he didn't see in the match, and that's the mystery to me."
Jay Bothroyd needed some time to see that it was the right call
Jay Bothroyd seemed to have a similar feeling about it to mine. At the time, he thought it was soft, but the more he looked at it, the more he felt it was the right decision, and that's how I've been about it.
At the time, I was in the 'game's gone' camp, but if he's not looking at the ball, that's not defending, that's wrestling.
It was definitely a strange one, but we got the benefit of it, and now there's a possibility that it could set a standard which could see that kind of foul removed from the game. If defenders are punished more often for that kind of play, then it should quickly eradicate it.
