This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
West Brom kept their place at the Championship’s summit on Saturday afternoon despite their game being marred by controversy.
And opposition manager Lee Bowyer has thrown in his thoughts after his Charlton Athletic side were handed a 94th-minute penalty to tie the game at 2-2.
What’s he said?
Slaven Bilic’s men saw Nathan Ferguson sent off after a rash challenge in the second half before a rush to the head of the referee practically handed the Addicks a shot at equalising with the last kick of the match.
He deemed that Naby Sarr went down under sufficient contact from Semi Ajayi to which Josh Cullen stepped up and duly dispatched the spot-kick.
Hal Robson-Kanu had scored a scorcher nine minutes from time, which looked like it could have been the winner despite being a man down.
Following the match, Bowyer spoke to journalists in his post-match press conference where he described his thoughts on that all-important decision, he said:
Looks soft, doesn’t it?
Those four words, even if they were made slightly in jest, will have several West Brom supporters reeling further as it is hard to disagree.
“Looks soft, doesn’t it?”
No matter how many times you take a look at the incident, it doesn’t get any better on the official’s part.
Ajayi has barely touched Sarr if there’s even contact there at all, so the Baggies have every right to feel aggrieved as three points were effectively snatched from their grasp.
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A victory would have seen Bilic’s side move four points clear of a trio of teams on 25 points, namely Preston North End, Leeds United, and Swansea City.
The Croatian will need to ensure that come May, they aren’t looking back on this game as a potential cause for a failed promotion attempt, but then again, his players have always bounced back from adversity as shown by defeating Cardiff City after their unbeaten run was ended at the hands of Leeds just days earlier.