Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg, said officiating in Saturday’s Nottingham Forest clash against Liverpool was not fair to the home side.
Liverpool scored a dying munite goal to take all points from the City Ground, but Forest players and coaches accused centre referee Paul Tierney of practically gifting Liverpool the goal.
Forest players surrounded Tierney after full-time, fuming at the decision to give Liverpool the ball following a head injury to Ibrahima Konate.
The home side had possession when play was stopped.
However, Tierney restarted the game with the ball at the feet of Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher.
Darwin Nunez then scored the winning goal one minute and 50 seconds later.
“[Forest] should have had the ball back,” Clattenburg, who took up his new role at the City Ground last month, told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“If the referee stops the game, he has to give the ball back to the team in possession. That was Forest.”
As per International Football Association Board (Ifab) rules, the former official was right in that the game should have restarted with a Forest ball.
The decision did not lead directly to the goal, however, with Forest regaining possession before Nunez eventually scored the winner.
“Forest have felt a lot of decisions have gone against them,” Clattenburg said. “Everyone is upset and sad that they’ve lost this way.
“We need to hope the club’s luck changes in the future.” With BBC reports
