Man in the middle sparks storm of controversy after pen gaffe
O'Neill says decision to award spot-kick was "staggering"
The stakes were higher than usual at Windsor last night with a place in next year’s World Cup finals up for grabs. All was going to plan – until the 57th minute – and a decision that’s got the footballing world scratching their heads. NIGEL GOULD was at the National Stadium
The sense of injustice was clear to see, brutally etched on every departing rain-soaked face …
As fans spilled out of the National Stadium at the end of yet another memorable Northern Ireland night out – this time for very different reasons – there was a palpable feeling of ‘we wuz robbed’.
The usual GAWA noise fest reverberating around the surrounding exit points of Boucher Road and Tate’s Avenue was noticeably muted.
Three quarters of an hour or so earlier, they’d witnessed what was quite frankly a bizarre decision by Romanian referee Ovidiu Hategan to award a penalty to the Swiss citing a Corry Evans handball.
To be honest he might just have been the only one in the entire stadium to see this.
Certainly the Swiss media who sat alongside us seemed more bemused – like they’d been given a gift.
For crying out loud, even the Swiss players didn’t protest or surround the ref to demand a penalty.
That’s because they didn’t have to … Mr Hategan pointed to the spot without any prompting!
Replays showed clearly Evans had turned his back with the ball striking the top of his shoulder.
It was a bitter blow to keeping Northern Ireland World Cup dreams alive – a decision furious boss Michael O’Neill later branded “staggering”.
And Evans, who will now miss the next leg in Basel because he was booked in the process, described it as “disgraceful”.
It means O’Neill’s men are now facing a mountain as high as Swiss Alp as they bid to reach the finals for the first time in over 30 years.
But if anyone can do it, they can.
O’Neill, in his post-match press conference, was upbeat about the return leg
"We're still in the tie - we're only 1-0 down," he said
And not necessarily with tongue in cheek, he added: “Maybe we will get the good fortune of a referee that will give us a decision like that in the second leg.”