.jpeg?width=1200&auto=webp&quality=75&crop=3%3A2%2Csmart&trim= "'Lucky' - Ex-ref Gallagher breaks down two controversial Spurs vs Leeds incidents - Yorkshire Evening Post")
Leeds United were awarded a penalty at Tottenham before seeing claims against them waved away.
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Dermot Gallagher believes Leeds United striker Lukas Nmecha was ‘lucky’ to nick the ball in a challenge with James Maddison - as failing to do so would have resulted in a late penalty.
Leeds’ 1-1 draw at Tottenham on Monday night came with plenty of drama attached as added-time calls for a home penalty were waved away by referee Jarred Gillett. Nmecha stretched for a tackle on Maddison and brought the Spurs midfielder down, but amid huge protests a corner was awarded.
The incident was reviewed by VAR and replays appeared to show Nmecha getting the faintest touch on the ball before making contact with Maddison. The Premier League Match Centre wrote on X that the Leeds striker was deemed to have done exactly that, with the initial decision of corner remaining.
“My first thought when I saw it was ‘blimey, they’ve got a penalty’,” former referee Gallagher told talkSPORT. “You were 13 minutes into stoppage time. When you see the replay, he does just catch the ball, there’s no doubt about that. But it’s one of them, he gets a bit lucky, because if he doesn’t get the ball it’s clearly a penalty.”
VAR had a busy night at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. They reviewed a potential penalty for a foul on Dominic Calvert-Lewin but eventually ruled the Leeds striker to have been fractional offside when played in by Brenden Aaronson.
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There was another delay with Leeds 1-0 down when Gillett finally stopped play for Ethan Ampadu’s head injury to be seen to. The Whites skipper jumped for a header in the Tottenham box and was caught by the boot of Mathys Tel, who was attempting a bicycle kick clearance.
Dermot Gallagher on Leeds United penalty incident ‘surprise’
As Ampadu received treatment, Gillett was recommended to revisit the incident and eventually awarded Leeds a penalty. Calvert-Lewin buried it with confidence to cancel out Tel’s 50th-minute opener and eventually earn his side a point.
“I was surprised [Gillett needed VAR to intervene],” Gallagher said of the penalty. “I often talk about clues and the clue for me was the fact that the Leeds player, Ampadu, was actually jumping.
“That will show you how high the player’s foot was. It hasn’t just caught him on the face. He caught him on the face from a jump. That’s a really high boot.”
Referee Gillett endured a difficult night at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, earning a -1/10 in YEP chief football writer Graham Smyth’s ratings. The many delays, particularly in the second-half, led to a whopping 13 minutes of time being added on.
A dramatic end saw Sean Longstaff come close to winning it, but for Antonin Kinsky’s world-class save, before the Tottenham penalty claims and subsequent review. “That’s the biggest one I’ve seen for a long, long time,” Gallagher added of that added-time period. “And they ended up playing 15 as well.”