Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher believes officials made the correct decision to disallow Nottingham Forest’s controversial goal against Tottenham Hotspur after newly released footage appeared to confirm a handball.
Forest thought they had taken the lead during Saturday’s Premier League meeting at the City Ground when Neco Williams reacted quickest after Morgan Gibbs-White’s strike was parried by Antonin Kinsky. Spurs failed to clear the danger, allowing the Welsh defender to force the ball over the line.
Referee Craig Pawson initially awarded the goal, but VAR intervened after reviewing the incident and ruled it out for handball. The decision became one of the biggest talking points of the goalless draw, leaving Forest players and staff frustrated.
Sky Sports later obtained additional footage from a tactical camera, which was not available to VAR during the original review. Speaking on Ref Watch, Gallagher said the extra angle showed the officials had made the right call.
“We know they got it right because we’ve seen subsequent evidence,” Gallagher explained. “They looked at it long enough. They studied it and studied it, and in the end they came to the conclusion that he handled it.
“The more they looked at it, the more they were going to be convinced he had handled it because if he hadn’t, they’d have cleared it very quickly.”
The Premier League Match Centre had previously explained the decision on social media, stating: “VAR checked the referee’s call of goal to Nottingham Forest – and determined that Williams handled the ball immediately before scoring and recommended that the goal was disallowed. REF: ‘After review, the ball touches the hand of Nottingham Forest No.3 before the goal is scored. The final decision is a direct free-kick for Spurs.’”
Williams strongly disagreed with the ruling after the match, insisting the ball never touched his arm. Forest head coach Oliver Glasner also criticised the decision, suggesting the officials had relied on guesswork rather than clear evidence.
Williams said: “I headed it in between my arms. If you’re going to pause it, it’s going to look like it hit my arm but it didn’t hit my arm. VAR is there to intervene with clear and obvious errors and that wasn’t clear and obvious.
“I have seen all the images and at not one moment can you tell that has clearly hit my arms because it never. I knew straight away I’ve headed it down in between my arms.”
Former Premier League striker Jay Bothroyd admitted he initially felt the decision was unclear but changed his opinion after seeing the new footage.
“When I saw that straight away (before the new footage), I thought it was inconclusive. You can’t tell from that view. I was looking at the right elbow more, and now that I have seen it, I can see the left hand, but initially it wasn’t conclusive to me. There (looking at new footage), I’m saying yes, he’s handled that.”
Tim Sherwood shared a similar view, saying the additional footage justified the final decision, although he questioned whether VAR had enough evidence at the time.
“I’m the same as Jay. I didn’t think there was any clear evidence (at the time) to suggest it was handball. It was a great decision on the basis of this (new footage), but they never saw that, so what they were looking at there wasn’t enough evidence.”