West Ham boss David Moyes found it hard to explain how referee Bobby Madley allowed Bournemouth’s equaliser to stand in the dramatic 3-3 draw on Boxing Day.
A topsy-turvy encounter at the Vitality Stadium saw both teams squander the lead to come away with a share of the spoils, although the Irons will feel they should have won.
Marko Arnautovic scored twice in the final nine minutes to put the visitors 3-2 up, but Eddie Howe’s side claimed a controversial point in stoppage time.
Nathan Ake’s goal-bound header was turned in at the back post by Callum Wilson, who appeared to use his arm. However, the assistant referee’s flag went up for offside, only for the decision to be overturned following a discussion between the match officials.
And a bemused Moyes told Sky Sports afterwards: “I don’t know how it was overruled. I don’t know how or why he [Madley] would have to go to him if the linesman gives an offside. You rarely see that in any game where a linesman puts his flag up and it would be changed.
“He said he was alerted that the linesman put his flag up, I’ve never really heard of that, but I take his word for it that he went to see what it was.
‘I’ve had a look at it and I think you can say that the offside is tight but the linesman, who does put his flag up for offside, but if he didn’t, it’s the Bournemouth player who puts the ball in the net with his arm. I’m still trying to work out how it can be overruled.
“The referee will see it himself. They get disappointed if they don’t get it right. The last thing we want to do is blame referees, they do a great job in this country and I always think they try and referee each game as best they can.
“But today, I think there were a couple of decisions, and certainly for us, if one of our players had stuck their foot up high, they might have been talking about a jail sentence if he’d done that.
“I think there were some actions today where we were a bit unlucky, but we were lucky because Bournemouth had one or two chances as well.”
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