Leeds United drew 1-1 at home to Brentford on Saturday.
Leeds United drew 1-1 with Brentford on Saturday afternoon, and fans have been furious about the refereeing on show at Elland Road.
Neal Maupay scored from the penalty spot for Brentford, and Pontus Jansson scored a fine header to rescue a point for Leeds, but that tells just part of the story.
Brentford’s penalty came when Ollie Watkins went down under a ‘challenge’ from Leeds goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell, and Maupay made no mistake.
Yet, after seeing the replays, it became clear that Watkins was going down far before Peacock-Farrell even got close to touching him, with the forward seemingly diving.
To make matters worse, Leeds were then reduced to 10 men in injury time, as Luke Ayling was given a second yellow card and given his marching orders to the dismay of the home fans at Elland Road.
Fans have even started a petition to have referee Jeremy Simpson investigated for his poor refereeing, but he has now been defended in a surprise move from a former Premier League referee.
Dermot Gallagher has today told Sky Sports that Simpson made the correct call by giving a penalty, suggesting that Peacock-Farrell gave the referee an easy decision to make by coming out and attempting to challenge Watkins in the first place.
“Every referee will give a penalty in that situation,” said Gallagher. “Someone said to me he’s already going down but the goalkeeper has come out legs first and he’s run the risk. He gave the referee an easy decision to make,” he added.
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