Newcastle United survived a late scare against AFC Bournemouth to come away with a point from the Vitality Stadium.
Anthony Gordon’s goal cancelled out Marcus Tavernier’s first-half opener for Bournemouth, who thought they’d won the match in stoppage time as Dango Ouattara turned the ball in from a corner. The on-field decision was to award a goal before VAR intervened and disallowed the goal for handball.
The Premier League Match Centre, which explains VAR decisions in real-time, put out a statement which read: “Ouattara’s goal is awarded on-field. The VAR overturned the decision as they deemed it to be a factual handball by Ouattara, therefore an on-field review was not required and the goal was disallowed.”
The ball appeared to hit the top of the Bournemouth player’s arm before going into the back of the net. It’s the second time VAR has played a part for Newcastle this season after Fabian Schar’s red card against Southampton failed to be overturned on the opening day.
Discussing the disallowed goal, Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe told The Gazette: “A welcome surprise because we weren’t appealing so I’d be interested to see the replays. We had a VAR decision go against us, this one goes for us.
Bournemouth may have a different viewpoint but I think a draw is a fair result.”
The draw sees Newcastle climb to fifth in the Premier League table with four points from their opening two matches. Next up for The Magpies is a trip to Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup before welcoming Tottenham Hotspur to St James’ Park next Sunday.
