Former top-flight referee Mark Halsey has been sharing his thoughts on the potential handball by West Ham United defender Angelo Ogbonna during Leeds United’s recent 2-1 defeat by David Moyes’ side in the Premier League.
Speaking exclusively to This Is Futbol, Halsey was asked what his thoughts were on the incident and the decision to not award Leeds a penalty in the first half.
In response, Halsey had this to say on the matter.
He said: “I think that’s one of those where it’s not a clear and obvious error, and I know it’ll disappoint Leeds fans, and rightly so because I don’t think anybody knows these days what is and isn’t [handball], but for me, I think it was a good decision not to award a penalty in that situation.”
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Leeds opened the scoring with an early penalty from Mateusz Klich that was originally saved by Hammers goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski but had to be taken again after the Polish shot-stopper edged off his goalline in the first attempt before Klich scored the retaken spot-kick.
Two headed goals, from Tomas Soucek and Ogbonna, then secured all three points for the visitors.
Prior to their defeat to West Ham, Marcelo Bielsa’s side were defeated by Chelsea, meaning they have now not picked up any points in their last two league games, leaving them in 14th place in the Premier League table, above Arsenal by a point (per Transfermarkt).
Moving forward, Leeds will have to accept this latest defeat and the fact that they were not awarded a penalty for Ogbonna’s apparent handball, which Halsey deems to have been the correct decision and instead focus on their next league fixture against Newcastle United in midweek.