'Shameful disgraceful piece of nonsense' - Jeff Stelling goes ballistic over disallowed Brighton goal vs West Brom

Soccer Saturday host Jeff Stelling has reacted furiously to the controversial decision from referee Lee Mason to disallow a Lewis Dunk free-kick during Brighton’s 1-0 defeat to West Brom on Saturday afternoon.
Brighton. (Photo by Peter Powell - Pool/Getty Images)Brighton. (Photo by Peter Powell - Pool/Getty Images)
Brighton. (Photo by Peter Powell - Pool/Getty Images)

The Seagulls went behind early on to a headed effort from Kyle Bartley, but thought they had equalised when a quickly taken free-kick from the centre-back caught goalkeeper Sam Johnstone off-guard.

Confusion then reigned in the aftermath as referee Lee Mason and his VAR team struggled to determine whether or not the official had blown his whistle before or after the ball had been kicked.

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After initially appearing to give the goal, Mason took a long period of deliberation and even went over to his pitchside monitor before disallowing the strike.

Reacting to contentious incident in the Sky Sports studio, Stelling said: “This is a massive goal in the course of the season.

"I heard the whistle go! I heard the whistle go! I heard the whistle go!

"Well, he must have known if he’d whistled or he hadn’t whistled!

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"This is total, utter, absolute shambles. Absolute shambles. I mean, this is farcical. What’s going on? There’s nobody offside, and he’s scored direct from the free-kick.

"He’s talking to them like a schoolmaster, for goodness sake. This is a shambles. Lee Mason, what have you done?

"VAR has given no goal, and now he’s going to look at the screen!

"This is a total utter shameful disgraceful piece of nonsense! If he knows he hasn’t blown, how can he then award the goal after somebody has told him that you did whistle?

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"Doesn’t he know whether he whistled or not? I’ve never seen anything, anywhere like this.

"Total, utter shambles! What a total abject load of nonsense!”

Brighton supporters took a similarly dim view of the decision online, and the U-turn to rule out the goal could have major ramifications for Albion’s survival hopes.

Graham Potter’s men remain four points above the relegation zone, but Fulham and Newcastle United beneath them – as well as Burnley above them – have all played one game fewer than the Seagulls.