There was controversy in Aston Villa’s clash with Newcastle United this afternoon.
Dean Smith’s side beat the Magpies 2-0 on their long-awaited return to a packed-out Villa Park.
Danny Ings scored a fine scissor kick in the first half to give Aston Villa a deserved lead.
But the post-match talking points may well centre around Newcastle having a penalty decision chalked off at 2-0 down, not Ings’s worldie.
The hosts’ goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez fouled Callum Wilson to concede a penalty but, because of an offside in the build-up, the referee’s decision was reversed.
Here’s what an angry Richard Keys said about the incident on Twitter after the game:
Harsh
It was undeniably a foul by the Argentine goalkeeper, a £20 million signing from Arsenal last summer.
But if the player was legitimately offside prior to that, which a retrospective check deemed him to be, then Newcastle fans can’t have too many complaints.
It’s harsh and there’s no question about that but, by the same token, the rules are the rules and on this occasion they favoured Aston Villa.
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