A Brighton & Hove Albion fan has taken their anger to the extreme by petitioning the Premier League to overturn the decision to award Manchester United a penalty after the final whistle in their 3-2 defeat on Saturday.
United won the game at the Amex Stadium with a 100th-minute Bruno Fernandes spotkick after Neal Maupay was penalized for handball following a VAR check after the final whistle had been blown.
Bruno Fernandes’ goal at 99:45 is the latest scored in the #PL since Juan Mata’s for Chelsea against Norwich in August 2011 (100:03)#BHAMUNpic.twitter.com/mI4tdsxKB4
Scoring a 100th minute penalty, after the final whistle has already gone, to win a game they deserved to lose, is the most Man Utd thing ever to happen in the history of Man Utd.
One Seagulls fan, Paul Anthony Soh, took to Change.org to vent his frustrations about the incident and called on officials to reverse the decision.
“All fairness, Brighton were the better side and by all rights they deserve to come away with something,” he wrote.
“Then after the final whistle, a full three to four minutes after that, which is way after it has gone, the VAR kicked in which I feel is totally absurd. United were awarded the penalty well after the whistle has gone which is beyond ridiculously unfair for Brighton.”
Soh added: “We petition and demand that the FA Premier League to overturn the VAR penalty awarded to Manchester United and Bruno Fernandes and completely rewrite the rules that no VAR decision is to be made after the final whistle.”
English Premier League: Petition to overturn the VAR Penalty awarded to Manchester United after final whistle. – Sign the Petition! https://t.co/nbHAXjfAtI via @UKChange
A fellow fan who signed the petition described the incident as an “absolutely disgusting shambles,” while another said “it is not fair simple as that.”
At the time of writing, the petition has garnered just 10 signatures, so it seems other fans recognize the fruitlessness of such an action, even if they too feel hard done by.
Another fan, John Simons, is the only supporter to provide a signature for his petition that Chris Kavanagh never referee another Brighton game.
Brighton looked to have salvaged a more-than-deserved point from the match when Solly March headed home in the 94th minute.
The hosts, who were superb throughout and hit the woodwork five times, broke the deadlock in the 40th minute through a Maupay penalty after Fernandes had fouled Tariq Lamptey, but the two sides were level at the break after a Lewis Dunk own-goal three minutes later.
Marcus Rashford fired United ahead 10 minutes into the second half before March thought he’d snatched a draw late on.
A last-gasp corner for United saw March clear a Harry Maguire header off the line.
Kavanagh blew the full-time whistle immediately after, but a VAR check revealed the ball had struck Maupay’s arm on the way so the game was restarted for Fernandes to take the resulting penalty.
“We got away with one,” admitted Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at the end of the game.
