What a bizarro! The referee disallowed a goal in the FA Cup even though the ball was fluttering in the net. This must not happen in 2024, raged the owner of the aggrieved club

You really don’t see that. The referee in the recent FA Cup match between Newport and Peterborough disallowed a goal even though the ball was clearly and visibly fluttering in the net. The visitors eventually won 4-2 and still progressed, but it was a moment that could have affected the whole game.

• The referee in the recent FA Cup match between Newport and Peterborough disallowed a goal even though the ball was clearly and visibly fluttering in the net
• After the game, the club’s owner raged
• The visitors eventually won 4-2 to progress to the next round of the FA Cup

Saturday’s FA Cup programme was indeed extremely rich. The oldest competition in the world offered a total of 32 matches, so 64 teams faced each other. These were, of course, clashes between teams that are in the lower English competitions.

Peterborough, for example, is only the third highest competition in the British Isles. After fourteen matches, it has 18 points, the score is almost even 25:26.

On Saturday, however, they faced a team that is one level below them in the FA Cup. But it was Newport who had the better start to the game. After just five minutes they were 2-0 up thanks to Driscoll-Glennon and Kai Whitmore.

However, Abraham Odoh reduced the deficit to one goal in the 27th minute, and the visitors even equalised at 2:2. But the referee disallowed the goal even though the ball was clearly and visibly fluttering in the net, behind the back of the Newport goalkeeper.

It was midfielder Jack Sparkes who, with the help of the home defender, curled the ball straight into the net just before the end of the first half. The Peterborough players were delighted with the goal, but the referee thwarted their joy a few moments later.

Despite progressing to the next round, the Peterborough owner was furious

The head referee signalled a corner kick instead of a goal, leaving the visiting team’s players confused. They didn’t know what was going on. Although all the players knew at that moment that this was a regulation goal, as they saw the ball cross the goal line, the referee stood by his claim.

He said the ball went into the goal through a hole on the outside. Anyway, this excuse didn’t sit well with the club owner. “None of the referees noticed that we had scored regularly. That can’t happen in 2024,” fumed Darragh MacAnthony, whose words were also quoted by Sport.cz.

Peterborough coach Darren Ferguson described the whole situation as bizarre and did not want to return to it too much. However, he pointed out that if his team had not won and not advanced, he would have had to deal with the disallowed regular goal. And, of course, not only him.

In any case, the visitors struck three times in the second half. Joel Randall equalised in the 71st minute to make it 2-2, then R.J. Jones scored twice in the closing minutes.

Source: FA Cup, Sport.cz