Brighton players fume as Chelsea benefit from little known rule after VAR denies Seagulls last gasp penalty
BRIGHTON felt hard done by after a little known rule robbed them of an injury-time corner and chance to salvage an equaliser.
The Seagulls and Chelsea played a thrilling contest at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
And there was late drama in West London when the visitors were awarded a penalty in the final moments by referee Craig Pawson.
However, following a VAR check Pawson was asked to look at the screen to check his on-field decision.
With the ball clearly striking Levi Colwill’s face and not his arm as the official initially believed, he reversed his decision.
Interestingly, the game was restarted with drop ball, when Brighton’s stars were fuming because the ball hit Colwill and went behind for a corner.
But, that wasn’t an error from Pawson as Brighton’s stars fumed.
The rules state that if the game has to be restarted following a reversed VAR call, a drop ball is given to restart proceedings.
The decision caused plenty of confusion from fans online too.
One wrote on X: “Drop ball?? No corner?”
A second asked: “Why wasn’t that a corner?”
A third added: “We didn’t even get a corner wtf is this corruption?”\
The Blues got off to a flyer at Stamford Bridge when Enzo Fernandez opened the scoring on 17 minutes.
Four minutes later, Colwill gave Chelsea some breathing space. Just like Fernandez, it was the England defender’s first ever goal for the club.
Brighton got themselves back into the game right before half-time, when Facundo Buonanotte beautiful curling finish from inside the box beat Robert Sanchez.
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Then, Conor Gallagher got himself sent off after receiving his second yellow card for a daft challenge on Billy Gilmour.
A Fernandez penalty appeared to settle the host’s nerves in the 65 minute.
However, Joao Pedro’s 92nd minute strike set up a barnstorming finish.