There was a little bit of 'controversy' involving VAR during Brighton v Crystal Palace

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By Rob Hoskin

Published Jan 9, 2018

VAR wasn't even used - and yet everyone was talking about it

There were plenty of football fans tuning into Brighton vs Crystal Palace in the hope to watch VAR being used in English football for the first time.Unfortunately, those that sat through the ‘M23 Derby’ didn’t see a review during the match.But that’s not to say there wasn’t ‘controversy.’The tie appeared to be heading for a replay after Bakary Sako’s scorcher cancelled out Dale Stephens’ first-half strike.That was until Glenn Murray bundled home the ball from Uwe Heunemeier’s header to give Brighton a late lead.Immediately, thoughts turned to VAR.Was it offside? Did Murray handle the ball? Will there be a review?But the answer to all three of those questions were no.Referee Andre Marriner could be seen speaking to the VAR HQ in West Drayton as they looked at all of the replays to ensure Murray’s goal was legal.So where was the controversy?Well, that emerged after the match back in the BT Sport studio.Presenter Lynsey Hipgrave was speaking to Graham Poll as we were given access to what the VAR referees actually looked at.And it turns out that they neglected to look at the key replay of Murray’s goal - the only replay that showed that he didn’t actually handle the ball.Rio Ferdinand called it a 'mistake' to fail to watch the decisive replay - and it's hard to disagree with him.

WATCH: BT SPORT STUDIO DISCUSS VAR'S 'MISTAKE'

Here’s how the discussion went down in the BT Sport studio:

It looks as though the right decision was made in the end but questions must be asked why the VAR officials didn’t look at the most important replay and “guessed” based on the inconclusive replays.