Tony Cottee rages at ‘awful’ footage he’s seen of West Ham loss v Aston Villa
West Ham United’s 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa turned on the “awful” decision to award Aston Villa a corner before Amadou Onana’s equaliser, Tony Cottee has said.
The Irons legend posted on X (10 January) in reaction to a video shared by @WestHamCentral, showing Onana’s shot in Friday’s FA Cup tie skewing past both Vladimir Coufal and Max Kilman on its way behind.
Neither Hammers player made any contact on the ball, yet referee Tim Robinson still awarded a corner, leading directly to Onana’s equaliser before Villa completed their turnaround just five minutes later.
On the call to award a corner, Cottee said: “Awful decision which turned the entire game…”
FA Cup controversy costs West Ham v Aston Villa
Had Robinson asked VAR, or even the well-placed linesmen, to double-check his decision prior to that Villa corner being taken, who knows just how different their third-round tie could have played out.
A Hammers side led by Graham Potter for the very first time were 1-0 up inside 10 minutes and were heading for a debut victory under the 49-year-old, only for that baffling refereeing decision to cost them.
The fact that it was Onana, the recipient of the wrongly-awarded corner by Robinson, who turned the ball home from close range will only rub further salt in the wound for Hammers fans.
Given Potter had little over 24 hours to prepare his side for the match having only been appointed on Thursday (9 January), though, he and the Irons will take plenty of positives from their showing at Villa Park.
A side so badly out of form heading for a deserved win at Champions League opposition – only for a poor refereeing decision to swing things against them – gives Potter a solid foundation to build on.
He’ll be hoping that with the Premier League now his side’s sole focus, the officiating will be just as solid.
In other West Ham news, the Irons are now “desperately hunting” signings in one position after what happened against Villa.
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