Former Premier League referee Chris Foy has reacted to the controversial call that saw Norwich City take the lead against Sunderland at the weekend.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Foy claimed the decision was a ‘really good’ one, despite heavy criticism.
After a dominating start to the game, Sunderland found themselves behind thanks to a goal from Hwang Ui-jo.
However, the match officials were booed and slammed by supporters on social media because of the controversial decision to allow the goal. Sunderland had expected the assistant referee to raise his flag after Gabriel Sara approached the ball from an offside position, but let Kellen Fisher run onto it and put the cross in.
It was initially thought that Sara was interfering with play from an offside position and the assistant referee was criticised, however it is since been noted that the Norwich man was actually onside.
Chris Foy has now congratulated the assistant on a ‘very good decision’.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: “This is a really good decision from the assistant referee, with the correct judgement call made to award the goal.
“The appeals are coming as a result of a potential interference with an opponent by Norwich City’s No 17, but as you can see from the freeze frame he is in line with the second-last opponent when the pass is made and therefore onside, so any claims of impacting the ability of the defenders to play or challenge for the ball are made redundant.
A bit let off for the Championship officials
From a Sunderland fan’s point of view, this is a huge relief.
Gabriel Sara did look very much offside and it would have been extremely frustrating to see another massive mistake made by the Championship officials, especially after recent blunders in Sunderland matches.
Thankfully, it didn’t matter either way as the Black Cats claimed all three points. But that shouldn’t distract from fact that the standard of officiating in the EFL this season has been horrendous.