Ian Wright has criticized the award of an Aston Villa corner that led to the home side scoring the first goal in Friday's FA Cup comeback win over West Ham.
The all-Premier League affair ended with Wright's former club being eliminated from the historic competition as Unai Emery's Villa came from behind to claim a dramatic victory.
Graham Potter's opening match in charge of the Hammers ended in FA Cup elimination after Lucas Paqueta initially gave the visitors a surprise lead in the Midlands.
The Brazilian opened the scoring in the ninth minute and West lasted until the 71st minute before unlocking the defense in a moment of controversy.
Amadou Onana reacted quickest to a loose ball in the Hammers box, but the decision to award a corner in the build-up to the goal was overturned by Wright and the supporters.
Replays show an off-balance shot from Onana sailing through a crowded penalty area and out of play, with both sets of players expecting a goal kick to be awarded.
However, referee Tim Robinson pointed to the corner flag instead and Onana scored moments later from the play his shot had somehow won.
Wright was furious at the post-match call-out and slammed the referee for putting unnecessary pressure on West Ham which they ultimately succumbed to.
'The referee assistant completely messed up that corner. I can't believe the referee, he's standing there,” Wright told ITV Sport.
'He's standing there, he's gone through a hole of people and he hasn't seen that. There's no one around, how can you go wrong?
“West Ham were in this. Yes, they had to defend a bit more because Villa came out on top, they tried, such a shame really,” Wright added.
The goal sparked Villa's comeback, with Morgan Rogers adding a second just five minutes later to seal a 2–1 win for the home side, with the Hammers unable to respond.
Potter seemed to agree with Wright's view of the situation and also wondered after the match whether a corner was the right decision.
'Well, the start of the match was very good, very positive. I thought we were well organised, presented a threat, the first half was really good from us,” said Potter.
'In the second half, Aston Villa got going and pushed us back a little too much. The loss of Fulkrug and Summerville affected our attacking part of the match, more pressure instead of big chances.
'I'm not sure if the first goal was a corner. It didn't seem that way to me, but I'll have to see again, it's one of those things. In the end we pushed and had a few chances. Disappointed to go out, but lots of positives,” he said.
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