Gary O'Neil brands Wolves penalty decision 'scandalous'
Gary O’Neil has condemned the ‘scandalous’ penalty decision given against his Wolves side in the draw against Newcastle.
With the game locked at 1-1, the Magpies were given a spot-kick on the stroke of half-time when Hwang Hee-chan delayed clearing the ball and seemed to make slight contact with Fabian Schar as he attempted to steal possession.
Referee Anthony Taylor instantly pointed to the spot before a long VAR check watched several angles of the decision, but chose not to overturn the official’s call.
When asked for his thoughts on the decision after the game, O’Neil fumed: “There wasn’t a penalty in the first half.
“It’s a scandalous decision. Terrible.
“It was a terrible on field decision and terrible that VAR didn’t intervene. I think they got it badly wrong.
“He goes to clear the ball and makes such minimal contact with Schar, hardly any, just a glance of the boot.
“Schar is already on his way down and the ball actually hits channy’s other boot before he even makes contact with Schar, so technically Schar gets the ball before he contacts Schar.
“That’s why it was a terrible decision.”
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe also admitted the decision was ‘contentious’, when asked for his reaction at full-time.
Despite his anger at the decision, O’Neil was delighted with how his group fought back from a losing position twice to take a point.
Mario Lemina’s first goal for Wolves cancelled out Callum Wilson’s opener – courtesy of a Jose Sa mistake – before Hwang Hee-chan netted his seventh of the season in the second half to make it 2-2 after Wilson converted the controversial penalty.
For O’Neil, he feels supporters should be proud of his side for their display.
“I’m really pleased with the group,” he added.
“We’ve had some setbacks, some unfortunate ones, and everyone involved with the club can be proud of the team.
“The work-rate, the quality, the resilience – it’s what we talk about.
“Big praise from me to the group today, I thought it was a really good effort against an excellent side that cause most teams big problems.”
After Hwang’s equaliser, Wolves were on top and looked the most likely team to find a winner.
One moment left Molineux fearful, however, when Pedro Neto went down holding his hamstring after a burst forward and with a potential shot on goal coming his way.
The in-form winger looked distraught as he was stretchered off the pitch, with the stuffing knocked out of the Molineux atmosphere as a result.
However, O’Neil hopes the injury is not as bad as first feared with the forward in good spirits at full-time.
O’Neil said: “He’s moving around. Obviously hamstring injuries have very different levels of severity, so we’re hoping it’s on the smaller side.
“Hodgey (Joe Hodge) had a similar one in the cup game and wasn’t out too long, so we’re hopeful that Pedro won’t be missing for long.
“He’s been a big part of what we’ve managed to do so far, but for however long he’s out for, the group are ready to make sure we keep producing performances and we keep picking up points.”
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde was close to returning from a calf strain for the game with Newcastle and Wolves hope he will return for the trip to Sheffield United.
