Tag

Bilic feels his players may have let that achievement go to their heads, but now there is no excuse for avoiding the reality of a fight to stay up.

So, in this case, an offside player has contributed to a goal being scored – even though he didn’t touch the ball – and the referee should have disallowed the goal.

Nevertheless the referee Craig Pawson and assistant Harry Lennard allowed the goal to stand, in what appeared to be a clear misinterpretation of new guidelines issued on the offside law for this season.

Earlier, Bournemouth’s Tommy Elphick had a header ruled out for a foul. “It’s two big decisions that have gone against us and we’ve ultimately been punished by that”.