Everyone inside the Vitality Stadium could agree on one thing: ‘It’s not football anymore.’
Those were the thunderous chants from both Bournemouth and Wolves supporters as they endured what was almost certainly the longest – and definitely the most farcical – VAR delay in English football history.
Players and supporters waited for more than seven minutes as officials tried to work out whether Milos Kerkez or Dean Huijsen had doubled Bournemouth’s lead 35 minutes into their dramatic FA Cup fifth-round shootout victory over Wolves.
The biggest shame was that it overshadowed a thrilling and increasingly ill-tempered tie in which Luis Sinisterra scored the crucial spot-kick that sent Bournemouth into only the third FA Cup quarter-final in their history after Matt Doherty had missed one to win it for Wolves.
It meant fans left the ground talking too much about referees and VAR and not enough about how Matheus Cunha had scored one of the goals of the season to equalise before being sent off for hitting, kicking and headbutting Milos Kerkez that will surely lead to a lengthy ban.
Not enough, too, about how cruel the result was on Wolves keeper Sam Johnstone who pulled off two stunning saves in extra-time to deny Sinisterra and Lewis Cook from close range to force the shootout in which he saved another from Huijsen.
Bournemouth moved into the FA Cup quarter-finals with a dramatic penalty shootout win
Their victory came after Matheus Cunha was sent off for a headbutt in extra time
Cunha had scored a stunning equaliser earlier in the game but then saw red in the final minute of extra time
The other disappointment was that this had been the only fifth-round tie not chosen for television coverage – what a spectacle they missed.
Bournemouth striker Evanilson had given the Cherries the lead on the half-hour in his first start since fracturing his foot in January, reacting quickest after Antoine Semenyo latched on to a superb pass from James Hill to force the first of many saves from Johnstone but one he could only parry back into Evanlison’s path.
It was five minutes later that the fiasco happened. Bournemouth curled a corner to the back post where Milos Kerkez thought he’d scored a second.
Did it come off Huijsen first? Who got the final touch? Had they handled it? Were they offside?
Eventually, officials came to the correct decision – one that poor Barrott had to declare over the stadium’s PA system – that Kerkez had bundled a corner towards goal at the back post, it had hit Huijsen on the way in and ‘Bournemouth’s number two was in an offside position’.
Even more embarrassingly for the FA and Premier League top brass was that it came on the first weekend that the new semi-automated offsides were in action, technology that is supposed to make these decisions much quicker and more painless.
Or not in action, as the case was here on the south coast as referee Sam Barrott informed both captains and managers during the delay that the technology could not function accurately in such a crowd of bodies so they went back to the tried-and-untrusted method of drawing the lines.
The Premier League and FA insisted the delay was only because the call was so complex with multiple handballs and such a tight offside but it showed just how little those in attendance thought of process that even the Wolves fans didn’t cheer when Barrott announced Bournemouth’s goal was being chalked off.
Evanilson put Bournemouth ahead in the first half at the Vitality Stadium
Bournemouth thought they had doubled their lead but there was then an eight-minute VAR delay
The goal was eventually ruled out after the semi-automated offside technology failed to work
It was the worst possible start for a technology they want to bring into the Premier League if all goes well.
While they waited, the supporters went through the full repertoire: ‘F*** VAR’, ‘You don’t know what you’re doing’, ‘This is embarassing’, ‘What the f***ing hell is this’, ‘It’s not football anymore.’
Bournemouth even had another goal chalked off when midfielder Alex Scott thought he’d scored in second-half stoppage time only for the ball to bounce up on to his hand before going in – at least that decision only took seconds to spot.
Cunha’s screamer from nowhere stunned those in black and red but, eventually, the hosts regained their composure as the pushed for a late winner, first in the second half and then in extra-time as they rained down 31 shots on Johnstone’s goal.
Wolves defender Toti cleared Evanlison’s shot off the line and Semenyo fired over late on.
Bournemouth fans thought they had been awarded a penalty when referee Barrott pointed towards the spot after Justin Kluivert went down inside the box after going for a 50/50 with Johnstone, only for the cheers to soon quieten when it became clear he was awarding a goal-kick and showed the Bournemouth substitute a yellow card.
Still they pushed. Daniel Jebbison had a shot cleared off the line, Johnstone somehow tipped over close-range headers from Luis Sinisterra and Lewis Cook to keep his side in it before Cunha lost the plot before the game went to penalties.
Cunha’s moment of madness meant he was not on the pitch for the penalty shootout
Luis Sinisterra fired home the decisive penalty to seal Bournemouth’s place in the quarter-finals
Wolves had the chance to win it in the shootout after Huijsen, having earlier had his goal ruled out, failed to beat Johnstone but Doherty put the effort wide.
When Boubacar Traore also smashed his effort against the bar, it left Sinisterra the chance to put Bournemouth one win from Wembley.
More to follow…
