Morgan Rogers’ disallowed goal as Aston Villa lost to Crystal Palace prompted a celebratory reaction from Mike Dean in the Sky Sports studio.
Unai Emery‘s side saw their hopes of claiming a Champions League place dealt a major blow with that defeat at Selhurst Park on Tuesday night (25 February).
Aston Villa produced a dismal performance in that match, losing 4-1 after a brace from Ismaila Sarr and goals from Jean-Philippe Mateta and Eddie Nketiah.
However, the visitors and in particular Rogers, will feel they were unfortunate not to have got on the scoresheet more to put the pressure on their hosts in the first half of that game.
Morgan Rogers denied by tight VAR call
Crystal Palace had gone 1-0 up in that game when Ismaila Sarr tapped in from close range after Emiliano Martinez could only parry a Chris Richards header into a dangerous part of the penalty area.
Aston Villa had already had one goal ruled out for offside on the pitch when Jacob Ramsey fired home with the score at 0-0.
The visitors then thought they had equalised when Ollie Watkins made an excellent run to the byline, before pulling the ball back for Rogers to fire into the net from inside the area.
That strike was however then ruled out on review after Watkins was judged to be offside by VAR, with some far from happy with that decision to rule out that goal for Aston Villa.
Dean though was pleased to see this decision reached, as it vindicated his own verdict on the situation.
Giving his verdict on that review on Sky Sports Soccer Special (8:12pm), the former referee had said: “I think it’s going to be very, very tight. It’s one of them where one’s leaning forward and one’s leaning back.
“His knee cap, sounds daft, just looks as if it’s gone forward. But from the angle we’ve got now it’s very tough to tell.
“And I think I’ve said before, Crystal Palace is the worst stadium in the Premier League for camera angles. It’s so low and you can’t get perception so it’s gonna take a while, this one, in my opinion.”
After that decision was then reached, Dean was then seen punching the air in celebration at his call being confirmed, while declaring, “Knee. Knee cap’s offside” amid laughter from his fellow pundits over his projections for how long the call was going to take.
Aston Villa will not care for Mike Dean reaction
Even during his playing days, Dean developed something of a reputation for celebrating somewhat controversially when he correctly played advantage while actually refereeing.
As a result it is perhaps no surprise to see him taking satisfaction in the fact that his prediction here was proved correct.
However, given referees are supposed to be impartial, those connected with Aston Villa are unlikely to be impressed in him taking satisfaction in what was a setback for them.
Given the scrutiny officials are under at the minute, this may not be a reaction from Dean that many current referees will appreciate.
Indeed, the fact that Aston Villa went on to produce such a disappointing performance will not help the mood over moments such as this either.
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