Pen blunder ref admits at last: 'I got Evans handball decision wrong'
Hategan says it was a "sad" moment for him after spot-kicks seals NI fate in World Cup play-off
The referee whose penalty decision ended Northern Ireland’s World Cup dream, has finally admitted his blunder.
Ovidiu Hategan awarded a spot-kick to Switzerland in last November’s Windsor Park play-off – for what he had deemed a Corry Evans handball.
Replays showed clearly that the ball hit Evans’ back.
Now, two months later Hategan said he simply got it wrong.
And he revealed it had been a “sad and unpleasant” moment for him.
Ricardo Rodríguez scored the spot-kick to claim the only goal of the tie and end Northern Ireland's hopes of a place in Russia.
At the time, Northern Ireland boss, Michael O’Neill, branded the decision “staggering.