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Nottingham Forest controversy may spark VAR shift as BBC footage analysed - pundit
Alan Hutton hopes more referees will stick with their on-field decision as Michael Oliver did in Bournemouth’s win over Nottingham Forest on Saturday (3 September).
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former Tottenham and Aston Villa right-back said it was “refreshing” to see a referee sticking with their initial decision.
As shown on the BBC programme Match of the Day (3 September), Forest were awarded a penalty in the first half of the match when Bournemouth centre-back Lloyd Kelly handled the ball in the penalty area.
The referee was sent to the monitor by the VAR official Graham Scott to have another look at the incident.
Oliver stuck to his original decision and awarded the penalty.
Forest went on to lose 3-2.
When asked if the ref’s actions on Saturday will encourage others to stick with their decisions, Hutton told Football Insider: “I hope so.
“They’re the men in the middle, they’re on the pitch they see it all. For me, it was a penalty, it was a handball he’s made himself bigger his hands were away from his body.
“Again the word consistency. He’s been told that he’s made a mistake, he went over to look and it and said ‘no actually I haven’t so I’m going to stick with my original decision’.
“They’re just asking you to have a look at it, which he did do and he stuck to his decision and it was the right one. It’s actually refreshing to see and maybe more refs will do the same thing.“
In other news, an ex-Premier League referee lambasted VAR blunder as controversial Neco Williams footage emerges from Nottingham Forest.