Tuesday 26 December 2017 19:01, UK
David Moyes was left baffled by Bobby Madley's decision to overrule the offside call of his linesman that saw Bournemouth snatch a late equaliser against West Ham.
Callum Wilson's 93rd-minute header was initially ruled out by official Simon Long - the ball also appeared to hit the striker's arm - but after a discussion with referee Madley, the decision was reversed and the goal stood.
It saw the game end in a 3-3 draw after two late goals had given West Ham the lead, and manager Moyes was left confused by the decision to award the goal.
"I don't know how it was overruled. I don't know how or why he [Madley] would have to go to him if the linesman gives an offside. You rarely see that in any game where a linesman puts his flag up and it would be changed," he told Sky Sports.
"He said he was alerted that the linesman put his flag up, I've never really heard of that, but I take his word for it that he went to see what it was.
"I've had a look at it and I think you can say that the offside is tight but the linesman, who does put his flag up for offside, but if he didn't, it's the Bournemouth player who puts the ball in the net with his arm. I'm still trying to work out how it can be overruled.
"The referee will see it himself. They get disappointed if they don't get it right. The last thing we want to do is blame referees, they do a great job in this country and I always think they try and referee each game as best they can.
"But today, I think there were a couple of decisions, and certainly for us, if one of our players had stuck their foot up high, they might have been talking about a jail sentence if he'd done that.
"I think there were some actions today where we were a bit unlucky, but we were lucky because Bournemouth had one or two chances as well."
West Ham had taken an early lead at the Vitality Stadium thanks to a James Collins header, but it could not spur them on to a victory, although Moyes did praise the spirit of his side.
"We've been doing it in the games [scoring early], but the bigger disappointment after that is how we play," he added.
"I'm now realising the length of my job and what we're going to have to do to improve. We need to get back on the training ground to see if we can do a lot of things to improve it.
"But they showed great spirit, we've got them running around showing great energy to stay in games but obviously we're going to have to defend much better than in the last two games."
