BY JOSHUA BUCK
Fulham boss Marco Silva called for more “consistent decisions” when it comes to penalty calls in the Premier League following his side’s 2-2 draw with Bournemouth yesterday.
There were multiple occasions referee Graham Scott could have pointed to the spot with VAR only being used once late on in the first half.
It only took Bournemouth one minute and 36 seconds to score past Fulham keeper Bernd Leno. Dominic Solanke slotted past the Fulham keeper to put his side in front for his second goal this season.
After creating some good chances in open play, Fulham levelled from a corner. Summer signing Issa Diop met a corner to score his first goal for his new club. Neto got his fingertips to the ball but the power was too much and he was never stopping it.
The first penalty call was in the 24th minute. Ex-Whites defender Ryan Fredericks went down inside the area after being slightly pulled back by Tim Ream.
Bournemouth went back in front in the 29th minute through Jefferson Lerma.
The second penalty call came in the 30th minute during a dangerous looking Fulham attack but a VAR check quickly decided Chris Mepham’s did not handball.
Five minutes into the second half Aleksandar Mitrovic was brought down in the box by Lerma and the Serbian striker, back from an ankle injury which saw him miss last weekend’s defeat to West Ham United, netted his 11th goal for club and country in the campaign.
The remaining 40 minutes of this game was mostly played in Bournemouth’s half as Fulham continued to take shots at the opposition goal.
In his post-match press conference, Bournemouth interim manager Gary O’Neil described the Mitrovic spot-kick call as “a terrible decision”.
He added: “If someone has their arms around you, I have no idea what makes you fall backwards…so for me it’s obvious Mitrovic has initiated the fall.”
Silva said: “After the last two defeats, we knew that it was crucial for us to start the match on the front foot, create problems and to be confident in the game. What happened was the opposite.”
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