Sports
‘It’s not a penalty’ says Hurzeler after Bournemouth draw
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler waas fuuming with the penalty his side conceded in the 1-1 draw with Bournemouth.
Bournemouth took the lead from the penalty spot after referee Paul Tierney initially booked Amine Adli for diving.
After a VAR intervention, Tierney deemed Seagulls goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen had caught Adli on the thigh, allowing Marcus Tavernier to score.
“For me it’s not a penalty, but we have to accept people make mistakes,” Hurzeler said.
“It’s difficult to speak in that moment to the referee. Of course you try it, but in the end they stick to their decision.
“For certain contact, for certain moments in the box – that’s what the referees told us at the beginning of the season – it’s not always a foul.
“Contact doesn’t mean foul and in this situation it’s contact, maybe a little bit, but it’s not a foul. It (the process of the VAR becoming involved) doesn’t make sense.”
Boos and chants of “you’re not fit to referee” rang around the stadium as match official Tierney left the pitch at half-time.
“The penalty changed the game, we lost our rhythm, we made afterwards too many easy technical mistakes,” said Hurzeler.
“We should speak about our performance, our performance wasn’t good enough. Therefore we have to take responsibility.
“We shouldn’t give the referee the responsibility, but it doesn’t look great.”
Brighton captain Lewis Dunk called the penalty award ‘cheap’ but said striker Charalampos Kostoulas has the ability to score wonder goals on a regular basis after his wonderful effort rescued a point.
“I’ve seen him score better in training, but that was unbelievable,” Dunk said.
“He’s a special talent. You’ve seen glimpses, and there’ll be many more things to come from him. He’s adapting to the country, a new league, and he’s shown what he can do. That shows exactly what he can do.”
