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Demba Ba brace, missed calls help Newcastle tie Everton

  DembaBa (Getty)

Everton scored for goals against Newcastle on Monday at Goodison Park, but only two of them were officially counted as goals.

A pair of blown calls, one on a bad offside call that ruled out a Marouane Fellaini goal, and another that negated a Victor Anichebe goal, opened the door for Demba Ba to salvage a point for a Newcastle side desperate for one. Ba scored two goals, including a 90th-minute equalizer, to help Newcastle record a 2-2 draw.

Leighton Baines opened the scoring in the first half with a beautiful goal, but the goal was matched by Newcastle after U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard gave up a soft second-half goal to Ba.

The Toffees looked to take a 2-1 lead when Anichebe sent a shot goal-bound, only to have the referee rule the ball failed to clear the line. Anichebe left no doubt just before the end of regulation when he blasted home a would-be winner, but Ba came right back down and equalized when he latched onto a Shola Ameobi chested pass and slotted it past Howard.

Everton manager David Moyes was understandeably upset after the match with the two blown goal calls, which cost the Toffees two valuable points.

Comments

  1. I would say Fellaini was DEFINITELY on side.
    The Anichebe header – though everyone keeps saying it was in, the only still image I’ve seen show it still, barely, just a tiny little bit – even with the line – like 1cm of the ball is still even with the back of the line.

    As an Everton supporter, I’d like to be shown another still that actually DOES show it having fully crossed the line. Which I assume it did – since it continued moved forward after the still I’ve seen, in which is was still barely touching the plain of the line.

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  2. Clearly didn’t read the first thing I wrote, where I said two clear goals were ruled out, and if it happened to Newcastle I’d be incredibly annoyed.

    What I added was also true: that they had a lead with minutes left and didn’t hold it, and either one of those goals being counted, when they were scored, does not guarantee they would have won the game.

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  3. Dropping two points at home is especially crucial. You need to win at home against teams like Newcastle if you want to qualify for Europe. They would be in third had they won.

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  4. Did you watch the game? The free kick for the first “goal taken away” was utterly ridiculous and shouldn’t have been given. Right after that, Pienaar should have been sent off but was ridiculously given a yellow instead.
    But whatever makes you believe your team was wronged. I’m sure Everton would win the league every year if it weren’t for those damn refs.

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  5. Are you dumb? The refs are paid to make the right calls so they always must? I’m sorry but there are mitigating circumstances.

    Keep looking at the world in black and white though, all intelligent people do I’m sure.

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  6. No mention, either of the idiotic call where Ben Arfa was through on goal but the ref called it back instead of playing advantage AND didn’t issue a red card? The refs were bad, but they were bad both ways. Don’t make it look like they were out to get Everton, who did themselves in as much as the refs.

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  7. The fact is the ref blew both calls. Everton should have been up by two goals. The fact they gave up a goal right after going up 2-1 doesn’t eliminate the fact they should have been up by two goals but for the terrible linesman. That stupid blind ref cost Everton third place and he shouldn’t be allowed to ref another Premiership game.

    And for all you Everton haters, I’d be saying the same the thing no matter what team had suffered that injustice. The refs get paid to make the right calls. That ref blew both calls.

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  8. @SBI what does them being the home team have anything to do with it. Everton being the home team has no effect on a human beings eyes, which are if you’ve ever taken a biology class “pretty awful.” Humans can’t see for crap, using still images and slow’d down video to lambast a human being at field level with eyes that can see maximum 24-25 Frames per second.

    Then when an official calls something he thinks he saw everyone tells him he must be sure. Well I put it to you that this official wasn’t certain, So he made a mistake.

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  9. @SBI, not at Dustin – surely you agree though that those are two extremely tough calls for the referee crew to make in real time, right? They aren’t exactly crystal clear. The AR probably should have gotten the offside call, but it is deceiving since the defender is leaning forward and it looks like Fellaini’s torso is ahead of the defender’s (and yes, I know that’s irrelevant, but it does make it more complicated). And the goal decision – between the AR and the ball is the post and an Everton attacker. In addition, the ball doesn’t touch the ground behind the line – the Newcastle defender deflects it before it hits the ground, so when it does hit the ground, it hits the line. The ball is wholly across the line for, what, 0.1 seconds? Maybe 0.2 seconds? How can you possibly think the AR would be 100% sure that the ball crossed the line in that situation?

    (SBI-Not the two most glaringly obvious calls ever missed, but for a home team to have two missed goal calls go against them in the same game is pretty awful.)

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  10. The offside I wouldn’t call a blown call because it was so close on replay. A human would find that quite difficult to be certain at game speed either way so I’m not surprised he called it.

    Likewise the goal on still frame shot doesn’t look all the way in, at least in the NHL it wouldn’t have been overruled so I don’t think it would be ruled in with the EPLs upcoming electronic goal program thingie.

    (SBI-A bad call is a blown call, particularly on a goal play. No other way to call it.)

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  11. Two goals wrongly disallowed, and if the shoe was on the other foot I would be incredibly annoyed.

    But I’d also be annoyed with my team, for getting a lead with six minutes to go in the match and conceding another goal almost immediately. They could have won the match despite the officiating, but they didn’t.

    It’s not like they could have guaranteed 3 points if either one of those goals was correctly counted in, and the game played under different circumstances moving forward.

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