Howard Webb verdict on controversial Georginio Rutter goal | OneFootball

Referees chief Howard Webb has backed the decision to let a late Albion equaliser stand after Georginio Rutter’s strike in the 1-1 draw with West Ham was checked for handball and a high boot.

According to TheArgus.co.uk, Webb told Sky Sports’ Mic’D Up that the on-field team at the Amex and the VARs at Stockley Park reached the correct outcome.

He said the handball claim against Rutter was straightforward under the laws, as any contact was accidental and not in the immediate act of scoring. The question over Charalampos Kostoulas’s overhead kick drew more debate.

Webb felt Kostoulas made clean, athletic contact on the ball with minimal contact on an opponent, which the referee recognised in real time. VAR then reviewed it and reached the same view, and Webb noted that if the overhead had flown in most would have wanted it to count.

Audio from the programme captured referee Simon Hooper telling Hammers captain Jarrod Bowen that any possible touch on Rutter’s right hand was accidental, that the bicycle kick was not a foul for him, and that VAR would review it.

VAR Tony Harrington and AVAR Ian Hussin agreed, with footage showing Hussin’s significant role and the swift dismissal of possible dangerous play. Asked if a high boot could have brought a free-kick, Webb said maybe. Host Michael Owen suggested it would have been given had Konstantinos Mavropanos gone down, and noted the foot was high.

Source: TheArgus.co.uk