Why Nottingham Forest penalty was overturned vs Brighton as double VAR call explained
On-field referee Peter Bankes’ decision to overturn Nottingham Forest’s penalty against Brighton in the FA Cup quarter-final has been explained after anger from the away supporters at the Amex Stadium.
After a drab first half, the Reds thought they had the perfect opportunity to take the lead when they had two penalty appeals in quick succession. Following a free-kick, Ryan Yates appealed for a spot kick as he felt he was caught by a Brighton defender, but this was waved away.
As VAR was checking that Bankes had made the right decision, the referee awarded a penalty as Kaoru Mitoma appeared to catch Elliot Anderson. However, the celebrations would be short-lived as Bankes was recommended to go to the pitch-side monitor by VAR official Andy Madley.
Once there, VAR confirmed that Bankes had made the right decision not to award a penalty for the challenge on Yates. Bankes did choose to watch the replay for the Anderson decision several times.
On replay, it was then adjudged that Mitoma had not fouled Anderson and that the contact was initiated by the midfielder. Announcing his decision to the crowd, Bankes said: “After review, there was no foul committed by the defender.
“The restart is a dropped ball to the goalkeeper.” On commentary, ex-Premier League centre-back Matthew Upson agreed with the eventual decision.
“I think that’s the right call to send him for a look,” he said. “There doesn’t look enough contact for me.”
Meanwhile, Michael Brown added: “We can’t be giving penalties for that. It took a long time – and we went around the houses – but we got to the right decision.”
The tie finished 0-0 after 90 minutes. It then went into extra-time.
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