It can’t be offside – Carlos Corberan bemoans penalty call as West Brom held

Carlos Corberan bemoaned the officiating decision which denied West Brom a penalty in their 0-0 home draw with play-off rivals Millwall.

Substitute Daryl Dike was upended in the area by Lions goalkeeper George Long in the second half of what proved to be a tightly contested encounter at The Hawthorns, but the offside flag had been raised and the penalty appeals were waved away.

However, replays showed that the through ball for the United States striker came off a Millwall boot in a challenge with Albion captain Okay Yokuslu.

Baggies boss Corberan, whose side are five points adrift of the top six, said: “I watched this action back. Unfortunately, the referee didn’t make the right decision.

“There were two actions, but maybe he saw another one which wasn’t beneficial for us. To be a referee in these types of games is very, very complicated.

“Sometimes with VAR they have trouble making the right decisions, but it’s true that if you analyse the actions of Okay and Dike, the only thing it can’t be is offside. The pass is from the defender.

“The tackle, you understand, is not a foul, then the defender made an assist to Dike – it can’t be offside if the defender has passed the ball.

“If after you understand that Dike was in a position to win the penalty, or if it’s not a penalty it’s a corner. The three possibilities are a foul to Okay, a penalty or a corner. The only possibility that doesn’t exist is the offside, because the defender made the pass.”

Millwall boss Gary Rowett, who saw his side rise a place to fifth with the point after Blackburn fell to a 1-0 defeat at Birmingham, was left pleased by his side’s application as they became the first team to stop West Brom scoring at The Hawthorns since Sheffield United in October.

However, he too rued a refereeing call in the first half when captain Jake Cooper wanted a penalty.

“I think to be honest there were only three players pulling him to the floor, so clearly that’s not enough to get a penalty,” Rowett quipped.

“I find it quite ridiculous how you can get dragged to the floor and ‘both players are at it’, or there isn’t enough contact. It is a penalty, the ref has to be brave enough to give it.

“I know it’s not easy. If we get it that way then maybe we run the risk of one going against us the other way, but particularly with Coops, people stand on him, they don’t look at the ball, they’re holding him, they keep letting people get away with it.

“If you look at their home record since Carlos came in, they’ve won 10, lost one and conceded three goals, which is absolutely ridiculous. We knew it’d be a game where if we were going to get something out of the game, we were going to have to play well. I thought we played really well and showed great composure.”