Stevenage FC Manager Steve Evans has called for VAR in the EFL Championship after his side suffered yet another officials’ error that changed the match in a recent defeat away to Blackpool.
Evans’ Stevenage side were down 1-0 with seconds left to play in the first half of their EFL Championship matchup with Blackpool, when Jamie Reid found the back of the net to bring his side level.
A very late official’s flag was raised to signal offside as the entire team celebrated an important away goal, with those in attendance wondering how the goal was disallowed, with Reid clearly being in an onside position on the video replay.
Evans’ said of Reid’s goal “It looked clearly onside. The assistant referee flagged terribly late, so the entire team was celebrating.”
“The video replay clearly shows it onside, and once again, we are on the wrong end of a really poor decision, just like away at Bolton last week.”
“The Head of Referees at the EFL has already looked at the video footage, and first thing this morning, he rang me to apologise refutably.”
“We seem to be on the wrong end of these big decisions this season. I struggle to find a coincidence. The EFL needs VAR at the earliest opportunity as the officiating is not at the level it needs to be.”
“I read last week that Emma Hayes at Chelsea FC Women called for VAR in the Women’s Super League, and I completely support her case. It is frustrating to work all week and consistently watch very poor decisions like yesterday have such an impact”.
As Evans made clear in his statement on yesterday’s refereeing blunder, this is not the first time that Stevenage have been stung by poor decisions in this EFL Championship campaign.
Just last week, Evans called the refereeing “horrendous” in a 3-2 home defeat to Bolton Wanderers, claiming that both Cameron Jerome and Jack Iredale should have both received red cards for offences in the tightly fought clash.
This most recent blunder against Blackpool will arguably make it 6 points lost for Evans’ Stevenage that can be attributed to sub-standard refereeing in EF Championship matches, resulting in his call for VAR to be implemented in the league.
Evans may want to be careful what he wishes for, however, with a string of VAR blunders in the Premier League (most recently a VAR axed following the blunder at Liverpool vs Brighton in April) showing that the system is not quite where it needs to be in the game just yet!
