Wolves boss Gary O’Neil admitted he may face further disciplinary action after confronting referee Tony Harrington following his side’s 2-1 Premier League defeat to West Ham at Molineux. (More Football News)
Wolves were 💫angered when Maximilian Kilman’s goal in the ninth minute of stoppꦑage time was disallowed, something O’Neil described as “possibly the worst decision I’ve ever seen”.
VAR Darren England advised Harrington t🗹o check the monitor as Wolves substitute Tawanda Chir💞ewa was stood in front of Lukasz Fabianski in an offside position and deemed to be impeding the West Ham goalkeeper.
Wolves’ protests led to a flurry of yellow cards for those on O’Neil’s bench, and the manager said he walked towards the tunnel because he was aware he is one yellow car𒁃d away from a touchline ban.
But O’Neil’s attempts 🌠to speak to Harrington after the game may yet lead to further prob🍌lems.
“Unfortunately I wasn’t able to control my emotions and my feelings,” O’Neil said. “I ไwas in with the referee and it didn’t go too well so I haven’t had an explanation.
“But the explanation is irrelevant anyway because everyone🍸 I’ve spoken to, David Moyes, Fabianski, they all can’t believe it’s been given for offside. It’s a terrible decision.”
O’Neil said Harrington shut down their conversation “pro✤bably because of the way I aske𒊎d”, adding that he was “in a fairly bad mood” when he went to the referee’s room.
“I don’t know if it will be reported,” O’Neil added. “If I get told off, so be it. I’ve been told off many times before. I will apologise if I’ve stepped over the line but I can only react on how I feel ♑at that moment.”
West Ham came f🅘rom behind to win with James Ward-Prowse scoring directly from a corner afte🍃r Lucas Paqueta’s penalty cancelled out a first-half spot-kick from Pablo Sarabia.
Moyes expressed sympathy for O’Neil but said any player stood where C🐬hirew🌳a had was at risk of being penalised for offside.
Asked if his side had got away with a decision, the Scot said: “I think I’m probably the last man at the moment to say you’re getting away with one. We’ve had so many p🐷oor decisions it is unbelievable in recent weeks.
“When I’ve looked at it again, the boy’s definitely standing in front of the goalkeeper…and if that player is not going to🍨 try to get back onside then there’s a chance you’ll be called offside.
“But I have to say I felt for Gary because the way I’ve felt the last 2-3 weeks with the decisions we’ve had, I’ve been sitting in a dark r🦹oom for a week.”
Wolves h♓ave disputed several refereeing decisions throughout the season, and O’Neil said his players felt they had been disrespected.
“The play🎐ers are unbeliev🦂ably frustrated with the decision-making and officiating,” he said.
“They had a discussion as a gro🐻up, they don’t feel like the𝓰y’re being respected by the officials and I’ve talked them down a couple of times from figuring out what they want to do about that.
“I can’t expect them not to this time, I understand how they feel about it, and whatever they de༒cide to do about it is up to them.”
Wolves had deservedly led at the break, b🌟ut West Ham improved massively after the half-time𒊎 introduction of Michail Antonio and Ben Johnson.
“I think the two teams changed shirts at half-time,🧸” Moyes said.
But the win may have come at a cost with Jarrod 🌱Bowen limping off as Thursday’s Europa Le♍ague match away to Bayer Leverkusen looms.
“He’s had a knee into his hip, or into his back,” Moyes said. “It’s not a twist but he’s really stiff. I’ve had one or two of those myself and th🥃ey don’t go away too quickly so we need to hope it doesn’t linger with him.”
