adminCoventry City lost 3-1 to Everton on a night filled with VAR controversy, leaving Frank Lampard frustrated by three key decisions that went against his team.
The Sky Blues started strongly at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, largely controlling the first half before taking the lead early in the second through Yann Gboho’s first goal for the club. However, Everton responded emphatically, with Thierno Barry scoring twice and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall adding a late third to complete the comeback.
The first contentious moment came late in the first half when James Tarkowski appeared to pull Caleb Yirenkyi’s hair inside the penalty area. Early in the second half, Jack Rudoni released Taiwo Awoniyi, who went down in the box under pressure from Vitali Mykolenko. The most debated call, though, was Barry’s second goal, which he bundled over the line at the back post—possibly with his hand.
Lampard said: “I have looked at them because sometimes [with] your emotions and in the moment you can’t be clear on the sidelines.
“But I think Tarki pulls on Caleb’s hair—they’re saying it’s not enough of a pull. I think that’s a hard area to be in: what is a hair pull and what’s not? You’ve decided it is, but it’s not enough.
“I think Taiwo for me, if you’re on the line of the box, it is a penalty—you’ve got to give the foul in real time anyway. The ref did let it go, but I thought there was a penalty by the time Miko’s knee’s in the back of Taiwo’s knee on the line of the box.
“Then the Barry one’s handball. I’ve heard that he’s apparently saying he didn’t touch it with his hand, but I’ve seen an angle where he’s flicked it in with the final touch.
“VAR is there for that, and so nothing went for us tonight in that sense.
“Well played Everton, well done, they win the game and we knew it would be a tough match. But if three decisions that are that big—I can’t sit here and go ‘I know everything and they should give all three of them’—but of those three, if one or two go our way, they would clearly change the game.”
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