Fulham boss Marco Silva believes referee Chris Kavanagh was “embarrassed” by the award of West Ham’s controversial second goal in Sunday’s derby defeat at the London Stadium.
The Cottagers led early on through Andreas Pereira’s strike but a brainless foul from the same player on Craig Dawson allowed Jarrod Bowen to equalise from the penalty spot for the home side.
The real moment of controversy came, however, when Gianluca Scamacca put the Hammers ahead, lifting Lucas Paqueta’s pass over Fulham ‘keeper Bernd Leno.
After a lengthy VAR check, first for offside and then for a possible handball against the Italian, Kavanagh was told the goal could stand and was not asked to review the decision on the pitch side monitor.
The incident was then shown on the two big screens inside the ground, prompting fury from Fulham fans and players, while Silva was booked for his own touchline remonstrations.
“It’s a difficult moment for the referee, definitely,” Silva said. “In open play I didn’t see it and of course for him it’s tough to see as well.
“But he was so embarrassed, like myself, when he saw it on the screen. It’s difficult for him to say something more. The decision came from someone on the VAR and he has to respect that decision but I saw on his face when I spoke to him after the match that he was embarrassed because he saw it on the screen like I saw it and everyone saw it as well.”
While Silva was furious with the officiating for Scamacca’s effort, he had his only his own players to blame for the two other goals conceded, with Pereira’s foul on Dawson coming seconds after he had been specifically warned by Kavanagh for grappling with the centre-back. Then, in stoppage time, Michail Antonio was gifted a clincher after a mix-up between Bernd Leno and Tim Ream.
West Ham boss David Moyes said afterwards that he would have been “really annoyed” had one of his players committed Pereira’s foul but Silva was slightly less harsh in his assessment.
“I told our players that these things unfortunately will happen and we have to show more maturity to deal with some situations in the games when the pressure is getting higher,” he added.
“The penalty moment is a good example, pressure from the crowd, first moment, second moment when the referee spoke with Andreas as well, you have to show the maturity.”
Victory for the Hammers made it three wins in the space of nine days since the international break and after a sluggish start to the season, their campaign is gathering momentum.
Moyes, meanwhile, insisted he felt the decision to allow Scamacca’s effort to stand was correct but feared it would be chalked off as the wait for a verdict stretched on.
“I have seen it back. I saw a little bit at the touchline and I saw it when it came on the big screen,” said Moyes.
“When I saw it, I thought he hadn’t celebrated because he thought he was offside, but he told me they were onside. I’ve seen it since and he sort of controls it, it comes down the side and if anything, it looks like it is going to hit his backside on the right side.
“From my point of view, I don’t see a hand involved in it at all. If you are Fulham, you are going to say you see a hand involved in it.
“I can’t see anything which changed the direction of the ball, I can’t see anything which had a huge impact. I know the rules now, anything which is a touch of the hand would lead to it. I didn’t see it and it took such a long time, I thought it was going to go against us, but it went for us.”
