Ex-Premier League ref hails 'excellent real-time decision' in Sunderland loss vs Hull City

Former Premier League referee Chris Foy has praised the “excellent” decision to disallow a second Hull City goal in their 1-0 win over Sunderland at the weekend.

The Black Cats slumped to their first home defeat of the Championship campaign on Saturday lunchtime, with Anthony Patterson putting the ball into his own net after failing to deal with a Joe Gelhardt delivery from a first-half corner.

With Regis Le Bris’ side chasing the game, the Tigers could then have doubled their lead after the interval, but had a strike chalked off when Matt Crooks was adjudged to have come into play from an offside position before deftly back-heeling past Sunderland’s helpless defence.

And having reviewed the incident as part of Sky Sports’ Behind the Whistle series, Foy has praised referee Farai Hallam and his team for their immediate intervention. He said: "Although the still image here shows that Hull City's goal scorer is clearly in an offside position, it is an excellent real-time decision from the assistant referee, given the many factors that need to be considered.

"As the Hull goalscorer runs backwards, several Sunderland defenders retreat towards the goal line and it does look as if he could be in an onside position, but this is not the case.

"The assistant referee's flag goes up and he clearly signals with his hand that the player has come back from an offside position to become involved in active play, so he gets this spot on."

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Crooks’ disallowed goal was not the only incident to spark debate on Saturday, with Sunderland also having a shout for a penalty waved away after a long ball into the Hull penalty area seemed to strike defender Lewie Coyle on the arm. Reflecting on Hallam’s decision not to award a spot kick, ex-PGMOL chief Keith Hackett told Football Insider: “I think had the referee seen that there’s a justification to award a penalty kick. I feel that the referee’s decided that there’s a degree of [uncertainty]. He’s only got one look at it.

“There’s no replays, and I’m struggling to say that really is handball. So I’m going to go along with the referee and say, ‘Was it deliberate? I don’t think so.’ That is a tight call, it’s one you wouldn’t want as a referee!”

Sunderland will look to bounce back from the disappointment of losing to Hull when they travel to Hillsborough to face Sheffield Wednesday on Friday night. The last meeting between the two sides ended in a 4-0 victory for the Black Cats at the Stadium of Light back in August. At the time of writing, the Owls are 12th in the table, six points adrift of the play-off places.

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