Tottenham's FA Cup clash with Rochdale marred by 'ridiculous' VAR decision that saw Erik Lamela 'goal' ruled out after 90-second delay
2018/02/28 21:49:10dailymail.co.uk
Robbie Savage labelled the first half-an-hour of Tottenham's FA Cup replay with Rochdale 'one of the most bizarre, entertaining, shambolic first-halves I have ever seen in my life' as VAR once again prompted chaos and confusion.
Twice within the first 30 minutes referee Paul Tierney caused disarray and lengthy delays to the action by consulting his video assistant.
And twice the Wembley crowd were left in limbo as first Rochdale and then Spurs benefitted from overturned decisions.
Paul Tierney was at the centre of a farce on Wednesday night as he relied heavily on VAR
Tierney took 90 seconds to rule out Erik Lamela's strike for a foul inside the Rochdale box
Fernando Llorente was penalised by the VAR for the slightest of tugs inside the penalty area
The League One side's hopes of causing an upset looked to have been dealt an early blow when Erik Lamela turned home from close range with barely five minutes on the clock.
But 90 seconds after the Argentina forward thought he'd scored, the goal was ruled out by Tierney for a contentious foul in the build-up by Fernando Llorente.
'It's a ridiculous decision,' Savage said on commentary for BT Sport. 'A ludicrous decision, it's not a clear and obvious foul by Llorente... (and) another question I would ask, why would ref not go and look at monitor himself?'
Son Heung-min's goal on 23 minutes seemed to render the controversial call redundant as the Premier League flexed their muscle on home turf.
But within five minutes the technology was again at the heart of the action. After Kieran Trippier was fouled by Matt Done, Tierney awarded a free-kick on the edge of the box.
After another long consultation with his video assistant, however, the referee changed his decision again and gave Spurs a penalty. Thankfully, it appeared justice had been done.
'(Done) has his arm round him, he's fouling him, it's outside the penalty area, (but) the offence continues into the penalty area so therefore it's a penalty,' former referee Chris Foy said.
Tottenham Hotspur were originally awarded a free kick when Keiran Trippier was fouled
However, having consulted VAR once more, the referee decided to award a penalty instead
'The VAR has come out correctly on this occasion and the decision is right.'
In keeping with the choatic clash at Wembley, however, that was far from the end of the matter. Son stepped up and sent Josh Lillis the wrong way to secure his second of the night.
But the South Korea international was called back by Tierney, who chalked off the goal and showed the forward a yellow card for stopping during his run-up.
This time VAR confirmed the referee's decision. And moment's later Rochdale added salt to Spurs' wounds when Stephen Humphrys levelled the scores after 31 minutes of a gripping first half.
Heung-Min Son stepped up to take the penalty and tucked his effort away from the spot
However, Son was penalised for stopping his run up, a decision again left to VAR
The South Korea international was also booked, as well as seeing his effort chalked off
