Fans have criticised under-fire referee Stuart Attwell for his role in Wolves’ disallowed goal against Bournemouth.
Wolves supporters thought their side has earned at least a point when Hwang Hee-chan netted 20 minutes from time at Molineux on Wednesday night, only for the goal to be ruled out after a VAR review.
Hwang headed in from Nelson Semedo’s cross, but Attwell, after being recommended to double check the build-up at the monitor, blew for a foul by Matheus Cunha on Justin Kluivert.
It appeared that Cunha had elbowed the Bournemouth attacker, meaning he had fouled his man and ruled the goal illegal, with the Cherries instead picking up a free kick and Cunha a yellow card.
Eagle-eyes fans believe they have spotted a giveaway, however, and that Cunha didn’t make contact with Kluivert at all.
Fans have criticised referee Stuart Attwell (pictured) after he rules out Wolves’ equaliser against Bournemouth
The goal was disallowed after it had been ruled that Matheus Cunha had elbowed Justin Kluivert
Fans took to social media to slam the decision, with Bournemouth winning the game 1-0
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‘I’m telling you now if Cunha touched him he’d have hit the deck rolling around,’ one fan wrote on X, previously Twitter. ‘Every player in the Prem does.
‘That’s biggest giveaway for me, he hasn’t even protested.’
Another posted: ‘The fact that Kluivert makes absolutely no appeal says it all really, get Attwell out the game.’
A third wrote: ‘Bournemouth player makes a beeline for Cunha. Cunha fends him off with his arm. Wolves score a few seconds later. VAR intervenes. A “foul” is given against Cunha. Goal gets chalked off. Utterly ludicrous. It’s not football anymore.’
Home manager Gary O’Neil offered his sympathy to referee Attwell after the game, meanwhile, despite his side being on the end of yet another controversial decision.
‘No, no qualms at all, I hope he is OK,’ he said of Attwell’s appointment as referee of the match post-game. ‘A tough few days for him. I hope he is doing OK,’ O’Neil said.
‘I don’t have any thoughts on the decision, I think it is really important I focus fully on my team and Wolves. .I have spent a lot of time this season answering questions around VAR and decisions and I don’t have any thoughts, everyone else will see the incident and make their own decisions. My focus is fully on us.
‘It doesn’t help anybody, let’s let those guys figure out what is the correct decision and let me figure out how to get this team some more points between now and the end of the season.’
Home manager Gary O’Neil (pictured( refused to criticise the referee after the game
Attwell had been under intense criticism from Nottingham Forest in the last week for his role as VAR during their defeat to Everton.
The club had taken to X to release a bizarre statement around Attwell being a Luton fan, and are now under investigation for their comments.
The club, whose owner Evangelos Marinakis was furious with the decisions, wrote: ‘Three extremely poor decisions – three penalties not given – which we simply cannot accept. We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times. NFFC will now consider its options.’
