'Hard to fathom': Scott Parker weighs in on penalty controversy during Fulham v Burnley
Scott Parker admits it’s “hard to fathom” why Burnley were denied a penalty during the early stages of their game against Fulham.
Zian Flemming’s seventh-minute strike from close range was clearly blocked by the arm of Fulham defender Calvin Bassey.
But referee Chris Kavanagh waved away the appeals while the incident was checked and cleared by VAR.
Explaining why a spot kick wasn’t awarded, the Premier League’s Match Centre wrote on X: “The referee’s call of no penalty for handball was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed the ball hit Bassey’s supporting arm as he attempted to block the shot.”
That explanation didn’t wash with Parker, however, who was frustrated not to get an early penalty during their 3-1 defeat at Craven Cottage.
When asked for his view on the incident, the Clarets boss said: “I don't know.
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“I think he said it was his trailing arm or his supporting arm, but the ball's going into the goal. That's hard to fathom, but that's the way it is.”
Burnley later found themselves on the wrong end of another officiating decision when Josh Laurent was shown a straight red card for a barge into the back of Raul Jimenez.
The Fulham sub dusted himself off to convert the resulting penalty to hand Marco Silva’s side the three points.
“I've not looked it back in real time,” Parker said. “But I thought it looked soft, the penalty. I honestly thought it looked soft.
“But again, I don't want to sit here and go strong on that because I've not seen it back and if it is a penalty and he sees that as a denying opportunity of them scoring by the law, it's obviously a penalty. But I thought it was soft.”
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