Simon Hooper has come under heavy scrutiny after Aston Villa beat Tottenham on Sunday.
Villa secured a 2-1 win over Tottenham thanks to wonderful goals from both Morgan Rogers and Emi Buendia at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Unai Emery had a worry on his hands as Villa looked to have real problems against Tottenham until the England international levelled the scores.
The Villans may have been frustrated after ex-Villa transfer target Rodrigo Bentancur opened the scoring, but that isn’t the case.
In a hugely positive three points, the claret and blue faithful and Keith Hackett have been left frustrated by one shocking action from match official Hooper.
Keith Hackett baffled by Simon Hooper decision in Tottenham vs Aston Villa
Pedro Porro took a free-kick late in the first half and opted to funnel the ball out wide towards Mohammed Kudus.
The Spaniard’s pass struck Hooper, and a Tottenham drop ball should have been given, but that wasn’t the case.
MORE VILLA STORIES
Instead, the referee allowed the Lilywhites to continue, affording Mathys Tel to almost get on the scoresheet at the back post.
The Frenchman miss timed his movement towards the ball, but on another day, things could have been very different for both Spurs and Villa.
Former FIFA official Hackett has confirmed that Hooper’s decision was wrong, a choice made worse by the fact that it actually negatively impacted the away side.
Speaking exclusively to Villa News, Hackett said: “The ball clearly hit the referee and deflected off him to a Spurs player.
“The easy decision that Simon Hooper, the referee, should have made was to immediately stop the game and restart with a dropped ball.
“He wrongly determined that it had not impacted on the game and allowed play to continue.
“Frankly, the deflected ball changed course and impacted on the Villa defenders.
“The Referee was wrong to allow play to continue.“
Aston Villa not helped by Hooper vs Tottenham
Villa may have secured a fifth consecutive victory in North London, but they didn’t get any sort of help from Hooper.
Hackett is clear on the rules and is surprised that the match official would get such a routine decision wrong.
There is no reason why he shouldn’t have awarded a drop ball in a situation that could have proven to be pivotal to the final result.
If Tel had gotten his feet sorted and potentially attempted a header, there is every chance that Spurs could have snatched the three points from the Villans.