Aston Villa vs Newcastle ref watch: Three decisions Chris Kavanagh got horribly wrong in FA Cup clash
Chris Kavanagh was once again in the spotlight at Villa Park, and not for the good reasons.
Aston Villa suffered a 3-1 defeat to Newcastle United in the FA Cup, despite having taken an early lead in the game.
Tammy Abraham opened the scoring for the Villans after 14 minutes, finishing well past Aaron Ramsdale after a neat pass from Douglas Luiz.
Marco Bizot’s sending off then left the Villans in the lurch, with Sandro Tonali levelling the game in the second half, before finding the back of the net for a second time from range to secure Newcastle’s place in the next round of the cup.
Nick Woltemade added a third in the final minutes, and while plenty will be made of his performance for the visitors, most of the focus will be on the several contentious incidents in the clash.
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Malick Thiaw escaped early booking after Ross Barkley foul
Kavanagh made it clear very early into the clash at Villa Park that he wasn’t going to show too much leniency, or so it seemed.
Douglas Luiz was booked just four minutes into the clash after pulling Nick Woltemade back after he had been dispossessed. That was a warranted booking by the laws of the game.
However, just nine minutes later, Ross Barkley was looking to break into the final third before being hacked down by Malick Thiaw. But on this occasion, there was no yellow card.
It was a late foul from the German that would have almost certainly resulted in a yellow card had it been later in the game.
He certainly got away with that one, but that foul also led to another hugely controversial incident in the game.
Tammy Abraham’s goal should have been disallowed
The free kick that followed Thiaw’s foul also led to the first goal of the game, but it should never have stood.
Aston Villa won’t care, but Abraham was quite clearly in an offside position when Luiz played a dinked ball over the top to the striker, who finished his chance very well.
However, with VAR not in operation for this round of the FA Cup, there was no check, and the goal was allowed to stand.
Newcastle players and supporters were livid with the decision to allow the goal, and in all honesty, they have every right to feel that way, given the importance it had in the game.
Newcastle denied the most stonewall penalty you will ever see
Villa have been on the wrong end of some horrible refereeing calls this season, and that has been with VAR in operation.
But their FA Cup clash with the Magpies couldn’t have been any more different after yet another incident involving Lucas Digne.
The Frenchman handled the ball two yards inside his own penalty area, and that was recognised by Kavanagh. But somehow he thought the offence was committed outside of the penalty area, despite it being right in front of him and his assistant.
Newcastle scored from the resulting free kick, but for that to have been awarded was quite honestly baffling, even if it did momentarily benefit the Villans.
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