Club owner hits out after FA Cup 'goal' given as a corner despite ball hitting back of net

Peterborough chief Darragh MacAnthony fumed at officials for missing a clear goal in their 4-2 win over Newport County on Saturday, with the referee giving a corner despite the ball hitting the back of the net.

The Posh were losing 2-1 at the time of the incident when Jack Sparkes swung in a corner that appeared to loop all the way into the net - with some confusion initially as Peterborough players did not immediately celebrate.

The team eventually ran to the corner flag to celebrate the goal with Sparkes before being stopped by referee Stephen Martin, who consulted with his linesman before ruling it out.

It is believed officials thought the ball was headed out of play before it made its way into the net through a hole in the netting - before Peterborough posted footage that clearly shows the ball crossing the line, writing a caption alongside it that said "Well..."

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Peterborough managed to pull off the victory despite the bizarre incident as goals from Joel Randall and a double from Ricky-Jade Jones put them into the second round, but chairman MacAnthony was far from happy over the decision from officials - saying he was baffled that they missed the goal.

Posting the footage uploaded by the club, he wrote: "Multiple officials missed this clear goal yesterday. That nonsense cant happen in our game in 2024 anytime ever."

Manager Darren Ferguson joined the chorus of Peterborough voices insisting it was indeed a goal, admitting it was a "surreal" moment when the goal was not awarded.

“It’s a goal. The footage has showed that clearly. There’s good coverage of it to show it’s a goal. I think I was the same as everyone in the stadium as it was a bit surreal and everyone sort of stopped like someone had pressed the pause button. Then we started celebrating."

He defended the referee Martin after making a "human error" but said it was a good thing Peterborough had won the game otherwise there would have been an uproar.

"I don’t think the ref knew what to do and the linesman didn’t help him and he’s made a human error. He’s said it’s gone in the side of the net, but it’s clearly a goal.

"If we’d have lost 2-1, it would have been talked about a lot more but I wouldn’t have used it as an excuse for why we lost the game. We would have lost the game because of the way we defended in the first eight minutes."

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