Nottingham Forest VAR admission as 'goal' decision clarified
Nottingham Forest have been told they were on the wrong end of a VAR error in last month’s 3-2 victory over Southampton at the City Ground.
Defender Nikola Milenkovic thought he had made it 4-1 and restored his team’s three-goal advantage in the second half against the Saints. His header was chalked off, but now the Premier League’s Key Match Incidents (KMI) panel have ruled the goal should have stood.
Referee Anthony Taylor had initially awarded the goal, but was then sent to his pitchside monitor by VAR and overturned his original decision. VAR Graham Scott had advised Taylor to disallow the goal as striker Chris Wood was deemed to have interfered with play after coming from an offside position.
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Wood was judged to have impeded the Southampton defenders to challenge for the ball, even though the New Zealander did not touch the ball. An independent panel has now found “the goal should have been given”.
At the time when Milenkovic’s header was ruled out, Premier League Match Centre had posted a statement on social media platform X, saying: “The referee’s call of goal was checked by VAR, who deemed that Wood interfered with play after coming from an offside position. After an on-field review, the referee overturned the original decision and the goal was disallowed.”
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side went on to claim the three points in that match but they had to survive a Saints fightback. After Milenkovic’s header was ruled out, the visitors went on to pull another goal back and only an Ola Aina goalline clearance in added time prevented the scoreline from becoming 3-3.
Premier League bosses say there have been 13 VAR mistakes in the top flight so far this season. The KMI panel found four incorrect VAR interventions, including the one regarding Milenkovic, and nine missed interventions from the first 23 rounds of games.
The Premier League’s chief football officer, Tony Scholes, told the BBC: "Nobody here underestimates the significance and the impact of one single error. We know that one single error can cost clubs. Points and results can cost managers positions, potentially players their place."
The three other incorrect VAR interventions highlighted by the KMI panel were Dango Outtara’s disallowed late winner for Bournemouth against Newcastle United in August, a penalty awarded to West Ham United in their win over Manchester United in October and a red card for Brentford’s Christian Norgaard against Everton in November.
The Premier League did not specify the nine missed interventions by VAR. Meanwhile, Scholes said “significant progress” had been made with semi-automated offside technology and it could still be introduced before the end of the season.
