Ex-referee casts verdict on controversial West Brom vs Sheffield Wednesday decision that angered Danny Röhl

Former Premier League referee Chris Foy believes officials came to the correct decision in disallowing Djeidi Gassama’s effort during Saturday’s defeat at West Brom.

Sheffield Wednesday eventually lost 2-1 at the Hawthorns, with Baggies midfielder Jayson Molumby winning it in the sixth minute of added time after Callum Paterson looked to have cancelled out Adam Armstrong’s 74th-minute opener. But Owls supporters felt the opener should have come sooner, and it should have come via Gassama.

Wednesday thought they’d gone 1-0 up when the winger cut in from the left to score, but to see the goal disallowed after the offside Josh Windass was adjudged to have interfered with play. Referee Tom Nield and his assistant took 16 seconds to make their decision, much to the frustration of Owls fans, but Foy insists it was the right one.

"This is an interesting one as the officials have to judge whether Sheffield Wednesday's No 11 (Windass), who is in an offside position, makes an obvious action which impacts the goalkeeper's ability to make a save,” Foy told Sky Sports. "When the initial shot is taken, No 11 makes a run across the middle of the goal, clearly across the path of the ball and relatively close to the goalkeeper.

“This has an impact on the 'keeper's ability to make a save. It's pleasing to see strong communication from the referee and his assistant to reach the right outcome and disallow the goal."

Whether Windass was genuinely interfering with play is up for debate, but frustration from Wednesday centred mainly around the time taken to make a decision - a suggestion no one was sure of what happened. Gassama and his teammates were well into their celebrations as the whistle blew, with the decision forcing them to reset quickly.

Owls boss Danny Röhl has made a point of not publicly criticising referees since taking over in 2023, often swatting away post-match questions surrounding controversial decisions. But the German did break with tradition to air his grievances regarding Saturday’s disallowed goal.

“You know me well now in the 16 months (since his arrival at Wednesday) and normally I do not speak about decisions made on the pitch because I take them, it always goes so quick,” Röhl told The Star following Saturday’s defeat. “If the assistant referee waved the flag, then we would have to take it, no problem. But between the goal and the offside decision there were 16 seconds. That means it is not really clear.

“I think this is hard to take. It means we would have taken the lead, it would be 1-0 and it means West Brom would have to come onto us, we could have gone into transition moments which are our strength. It’s football. It was an up and down day for both sides.”