Russell Martin was left “frustrated” with the decision to disallow what could have been a winning goal for Southampton against Brighton & Hove Albion.
Cameron Archer thought he had given the visiting side to The Amex Stadium the lead when he fired home from Ryan Fraser’s cross after 68 minutes.
However, after a lengthy video assistant referee (VAR) review of more than four minutes the goal was chalked off with forward Adam Armstrong deemed to be in an offside position and interfering with play.
The IFAB (The International Football Association Board) laws of the game state that a player in an offside position should be penalised for interfering if they are “preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision; challenging an opponent for the ball; clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent or making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball.”
The Premier League later confirmed that Armstrong was ruled to be impacting goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen’s ability to play the ball coming across the box.
“The referee’s call of no goal was checked and confirmed by the VAR as Armstrong was in an offside position and deemed to be impacting Verbruggen’s ability to play the ball,” the Premier League Match Centre account posted on X.
Martin, however, had a different view of the incident.
“I’m fed up with talking about it. It’s a brilliant goal, a well-worked goal,” he told Sky Sports. “I respect how difficult the decision is for the referee and the assistant referee. It is really difficult, but I find it hard to accept.
“We were told it affects Bart Verbruggen’s ability and if Adam’s run moved Verbruggen from his position then I would understand the decision, but he hasn’t moved. I cannot see how it has affected the goalkeeper.
“This is the point of VAR, I would rather the (referee) make a mistake on the pitch and we go, ‘No problem.’
“It is still human error in my opinion. The mistake is, it’s not clear and obvious enough to be corrected. The on-field decision carries weight. I am frustrated, but I am really proud of my players.”
Southampton were forced to settle for a point with Flynn Downes’ first goal of the season cancelling out Kaoru Mitoma’s opener.
The two managers appeared to clash at the final whistle with Brighton’s Fabian Hurzeler later accusing Martin of a lack of respect.
“It’s so important to respect each other, how you talk to each other on the touchline. That’s how I got educated,” he said. Asked to expand on what Martin had said, Hurzeler replied: “You should ask him.”
In response Martin said: “Respect is mutual. The amount of times in the opposition dugout they asked for a booking for one of our players, I have never known it to be to that level.”
Southampton remain bottom of the Premier League table four points from safety while Brighton moved up to second above Manchester City.
(Photo: Premier League Match Centre)
