Wolves and Aston Villa’s Premier League clash descended into ‘Sunday League’ chaos before the hosts wrapped up a 2-0 victory.
With Wolves leading 1-0 at half-time, the second-half was littered with controversial moments as Villa saw a goal disallowed and Wolves were denied a penalty shout as VAR intervened twice.
The encounter then saw embarrassing scenes which have been likened to a Sunday League mix-up after a Wolves substitution took a couple of minutes to make – almost seeing referee Andy Madley have to get his fingers out and count up the players.
Villa thought they had cancelled out Jean Bellegarde's first-half goal ten minutes after half-time when Donyell Malen tapped home John McGinn’s low cross following a well-worked routine by the visitors. But the offside flag immediately went up.
The play was checked by VAR and the decision to disallow the goal stood. However, the call sparked controversy as the offside in the build-up came with Morgan Rogers having been adjudged to have impacted the closest defender Nelson Semedo, who narrowly missed intercepting the cross.
Despite Rogers’ interference being incredibly minimal, the Premier League released a statement confirming that the midfielder’s impact was behind the decision.
A statement from the Premier League Match Centre read: “The referee's call of no goal due to an offside offence is checked and confirmed by VAR – with Rogers in an offside position and deemed to be impacting the ability of Semedo to play or challenge for the ball.”
Villa’s frustrations further increased when their patience was tested by Wolves. Vitor Pereira’s move to substitute Goncalo Guedes turned to confusion as Wolves appeared to change their mind on who would replace the forward.
After an insane amount of faffing on the touchline, Madley blew his whistle to continue the play, but Wolves players quickly notified the referee no replacement had entered the field. Eventually, Tommy Doyle came on in a double substitution.
Fans on social media couldn’t believe the delay and chaos, with one user comparing it to something seen on a Sunday morning in the park. “What in the Sunday league is going on here at Wolves,” they wrote.
However, there was nothing amateur about the ending to the game, as Wolves star Matheus Cunha wrapped up the three points with a brilliant finish to secure the bragging rights and take the hosts out of the bottom three.
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