Credit: Imago

Daniel Lewis

Sun 3 May 2026 7:10, UK

Brentford were on the end of some favourable refereeing decisions in their 3-0 win over West Ham United on Saturday.

Referee Craig Pawson had a tough time of things in a game in which Konstantinos Mavropanos scored an own goal and then had an equaliser ruled out in the first half.

Brentford then had a somewhat contentious penalty awarded for El Hadji Malick Diouf’s challenge on Dango Ouattara, which Igor Thiago converted.

Mikkel Damsgaard slid home a third, but Nuno Espirito Santo‘s men perhaps should have had a penalty of their own prior to that.

Indeed, Keith Hackett certainly thinks as much as he shared his views exclusively to West Ham Zone following the Hammers’ loss at the Gtech Community Stadium.

Pablo should have been awarded second-half penalty vs Brentford

Too many West Ham players failed to turn up against Brentford, but there was no way this was a 3-0 game.

The frame of the goal came to Brentford’s rescue multiple times, while some will question why the opener was allowed to stand as Mavropanos appeared to be fouled.

Nuno has even more reason to be upset as Mathias Jensen appeared to take out Pablo with the scoreline at 2-0 in the second half.

Pablo was about 20 yards from goal – albeit going nowhere – when Jensen slipped and took his opponent out inside the box.

There was no intent there, granted, and Pablo had his back to goal, but he was still taken out illegally by his opponent.

Reacting to footage of the incident, former PGMOL chief Hackett said: “This was a careless challenge and should have resulted in the award of a penalty kick to West Ham United.

“VAR Tony Harrington should have intervened and instructed the referee Craig Pawson to review the challenge on the pitchside monitor.”

Had the penalty been awarded, and of course converted, it would have been a much different contest at 2-1.

Nuno Espirito Santo makes plea to West Ham fans

Nuno was disappointed with some of the refereeing decisions, but the Portuguese did ensure he reserved a message for supporters.

He made a point in his post-match press conference of stating that he and his players need the fans “more than ever”.

The travelling hoards clapped off the players at full-time, respectful of the fact that 3-0 was a misleading scoreline in the grand scheme of things.

The mood will shift should Tottenham beat Aston Villa on Sunday evening, but for now West Ham are two points outside the relegation zone with three games to go.