LONDON: Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson was satisfied with how officials handled Glenn Murray’s late winner as Brighton progressed to the FA Cup fourth round.
Monday’s tie was the first competitive game in England to have the video assistant referee (VAR) system technology available.
Despite Palace’s complaints that Murray may have handled the ball in scoring, a VAR review was not initiated. Hodgson said disallowing the goal “would have been very harsh”.
The former England boss added: “There’s still a slight thought it might just have brushed off his arm into the goal, but if it’d been my player scoring that goal, I’d have been very upset if it had been disallowed for handball.”
At the time, several Crystal Palace players protested because they felt Murray had deflected Uwe Hunemeier’s header over the line with his hand.
Referee Andre Marriner did discuss the incident with the VAR team through his earpiece but he did not consult the pitch-side monitor because he was satisfied Murray’s goal was legitimate.
Hodgson said: “It was a genuine goal and the referee was helped by the fact he had [Neil] Swarbrick in the VAR studio [in west London] making a judgement that’d help him out – so I have no complaints.”
Murray was adamant that there was nothing controversial about his goal, which came after Bakary Sako had cancelled out Dale Stephens’ opener.
He said: “It wasn’t my arm. I think VAR would have pulled me back if it was. I just needed to get something on it and luckily I did – I think I got my hip or my knee or something on it. As soon as I did it I knew it wasn’t my arm. There was no doubt about it for me.”
Brighton boss Chris Hughton said of the incident: “I couldn’t see it that clearly. Obviously I saw it go in but I didn’t know what the circumstances were.
“I knew Hunemeier rose at the far post and did really well, so no I couldn’t see it and had to wait until we came in – but obviously it’s been very clear that it didn’t need VAR.”
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