Shay Given slams ‘mad thing’ that happened in West Ham incident vs Brighton
West Ham fell to a controversial draw away to Brighton on Sunday.
Brighton and West Ham shared the points in a 1-1 draw as Georginio Rutter netted a late equaliser to cancel out Jarrod Bowen’s opener.
Bowen netted a superb goal against Brighton as his sliding effort from the tightest of angles somehow nestled in the bottom corner.
The Hammers skipper looked to have won the game on the south coast as Bowen overtook Mark Noble’s goal tally for West Ham, but it wasn’t to be.
Nuno Espirito Santo had every right to be fuming with the final moments, with Shay Given baffled by the huge controversy at the Amex.
Shay Given slams rules after Brighton equaliser
The Premier League had to clarify Brighton’s goal against West Ham due to the controversial fashion in which it found the net.
Rutter eventually got past Alphonse Areola after the keeper had made a stellar initial save from the former Leeds United man.
Jan Paul van Hecke reached the loose ball first and afforded the Frenchman another chance to ultimately grab a late equaliser.
The issues from a West Ham perspective come as it was clear that Rutter had handled the ball in the build-up to his own strike.
Had his initial effort flown past Areola, it wouldn’t have counted, but because of the save, the phase of play reset, so the handball wasn’t seen as “immediate” by VAR.
Given wasn’t totally understanding of the rules surrounding this, especially considering the Hammers keeper was penalised for making a save.
He said: “Here’s the handball, it hits his leg and then hits his arm. The mad thing about the rule is if that goes in, it gets disallowed on the first one. Van Hecke keeps it alive and gives it back to Rutter and he scores.“
West Ham let down by Simon Hooper and Co. vs Brighton
It feels hugely unfair that Rutter could commit a handball offence just seconds before scoring, but not face any punishment.
The attacking midfielder certainly felt the benefit from handling the ball inside the box as he would have likely lost possession otherwise.
Areola would have genuinely been better off standing still and allowing the Brighton man to score in the knowledge that it would be ruled out for “immediate” handball.
That isn’t to mention the high foot challenge on Konstantinos Mavropanos, which wasn’t even checked by VAR in the aftermath of the goal.
A tough pill for West Ham to swallow, but they’ve got no choice but to get on with things.
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