A chorus of anti-VAR chants rang around Molineux, replacing the delirium that erupted after Max Kilman headed home what he thought was a 99th minute equaliser. But it would be taken away from him and Wolves to give West Ham victory. Tony Harrington ran to the monitor to check whether Tawanda Chirewa, standing in an offside position, had impeded Lukasz Fabianski’s view. The referee decided the goal should not stand and was subject to abuse for the remaining seconds, flashing the yellow card to all and sundry.
Chirewa might have blocked the goalkeeper’s line of vision but Fabianski would have had no chance regardless of stopping the ball. Harrington, however, was convinced by the evidence and overturned the original goal. Wolves have never been on good terms with VAR. They hosted a protest at their match against Nottingham Forest in December when banners were paraded in the stands to show their views of the technology.
“I think it is possibly the worst decision I have ever seen,” the Wolves manager Gary O’Neil said. “If your knowledge and understanding of the game is really poor, then you could reach the conclusion that is offside. If you’re a Premier League official working at the highest level, I would be really disappointed that you felt that was offside. If it is correct by the letter of the law, then the letter of the law needs changing. He’s not impacting the goalkeeper’s vision or his ability to move to save the shot. I think it is a terrible decision. My honest view is it should never be offside, David Moyes agreed and Fabianski agreed. Only the referee and VAR thinks this is offside.”
O’Neil spoke to Harrington on the pitch at full-time and tried to continue the conversation inside the changing rooms. “I went into see him and I asked some questions and he didn’t like how they were asked, so he felt he didn’t want to discuss it,” O’Neil said.
Harrington had been at the centre of most of the big moments in the match. He awarded a penalty to each side, converted by Pablo Sarabia and Lucas Paquetá, and disallowed a goal from Emerson Palmieri. The referee also gave West Ham the corner that James Ward-Prowse swung directly into the far corner, although the wind and José Sá were far more influential than the officials on that one.
The former Nottingham Forest manager, Steve Cooper, was in the stands and he, like everyone else in attendance, could not have envisaged West Ham leaving with three points after a pitiful first-half performance where they were second best in every department. Wolves scored from the spot after Emerson fouled Rayan Aït-Nouri, and the hosts had all the momentum but without a recognised striker in the starting lineup could not turn it into more goals before the break.
West Ham’s abject performance resulted in David Moyes making two changes at the break with Michail Antonio coming on to provide a focal point in attack and he led the turning of the tide, despite fellow forward Jarrod Bowen being forced off with a hip injury, making him a doubt for Thursday’s trip to Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League. “We have got to hope he is OK,” Moyes said. “I hope it won’t be too bad. We need him this week, we need our big players.”
All control was passed from Wolves to West Ham after the break, reversing roles. Unlike their hosts, West Ham did have a cutting edge. Emerson was deemed to have fouled Nélson Semedo before heading home. The Italian eventually earned redemption for giving away the penalty that allowed Wolves to take the lead when his cross struck Kilman on the hand and Paquetá did the rest. “I think the two teams changed shirts at half time,” Moyes said. “Wolves were the better team in the first half and dominated us. The best thing was we only went in a goal down. The second half we were the better team and had most of the opportunities.”
West Ham were the only team capable of winning the match but no one could have anticipated Ward-Prowse deceiving the goalkeeper with a wicked corner. The midfielder certainly meant to shoot and got his reward, as did Moyes for his half-time substitutions but most of that was forgotten in injury-time when Kilman and Wolves were left, rightly, furious.
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