Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher agreed with one big decision made by Chris Kavanagh in Liverpool’s Merseyside derby win on Sunday.
Everton fans and their manager David Moyes were screaming for a penalty in the 12th minute when Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall went down in the box under shoulder-to-shoulder contact from Curtis Jones, but the match official saw no need to point to the spot.
The Toffees boss voiced his displeasure with the decision when speaking to the media after the game, although two neutral observers have stated their belief that the right call was made.
Gallagher made his customary Monday morning appearance on Sky Sports‘ Ref Watch feature reviewing the major refereeing talking points from the weekend’s Premier League action, and he felt that the Liverpool midfielder wasn’t culpable of any wrongdoing.
The former top-flight whistler observed: “They’re side by side. It’s a coming together. In the end he is just too strong for him.”
Jay Bothroyd was in studio alongside Gallagher and he took a similar view of the incident, saying: “I don’t think it’s a penalty. The difference with it is that when you see Curtis Jones come into it, it is shoulder to shoulder. He’s just used his strength…This is shoulder to shoulder.”
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Moyes had already complained in the lead-up to the match that Liverpool apparently get ‘all the decisions’ in fixtures such as this, and naturally he felt that Jones had fouled Dewsbury-Hall in that coming together in the opening quarter-hour yesterday.
In truth, it was nothing more than a shoulder-to-shoulder and would’ve been an incredibly soft penalty had it been awarded. That isn’t just our view, either – impartial Sky Sports co-commentator Chris Sutton felt that there was ‘insufficient contact’ and that the Everton man ‘was looking to go down’.
The Toffees were on the wrong end of another decision when Iliman Ndiaye’s first-half goal was ruled out after a VAR review as Jake O’Brien (who provided the ‘assist’) was offside in the build-up, with replays showing that the correct call was also made in that instance.
Between those ‘what-if’ moments and Virgil van Dijk’s 100th-minute winner, it was undoubtedly a galling afternoon for Evertonians, but everyone associated with Liverpool will simply be revelling in the afterglow of a hard-earned victory which puts us well on track for Champions League qualification.
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