Bournemouth got a much-needed win in their fight against the drop after Josh King’s hat-trick gave them a 3-2 victory over West Ham United.
But fans of the visiting team were left fuming after they feel they were not given the rub of the green by referee Bobby Madley.
The Yorkshire-born official gave two first-half penalties to the hosts – both of which were missed – and denied two penalty appeals from the visitors for marginal handball calls.
There were also appeals for offside for King’s second goal, though the same could be said for André Ayew’s equaliser, and there were appeals for a foul on the Ghana international in the build up to the late winner.
Each of the contentious decisions could have gone either way, while Bournemouth dominated possession and had more shots on goal than their opponents.
This is football, though, and you know what happens in football.
Consistency of referees is shocking, stonewall pen second half, foul on Ayew which led to their winner, embarrassing
— Josh Claydon (@JoshuaClaydon) March 11, 2017
On the bright side, it'll have to be absolutely nailed-on for Madley to award AFCB another penalty here…
— KUMB.com: West Ham United FC Online (@kumbdotcom) March 11, 2017
Interesting to see if the ref can get hatrick at Bournemouth today.
— COYIrons (@COYIronscom) March 11, 2017
Ref not on our side every decision going Bournemouth way .
— J BUDS (@JBUDS1) March 11, 2017
https://twitter.com/Kxuyate/status/840605085935783937
https://twitter.com/BilicBible/status/840605450408202240
Ref gives them two pens, yet when Carroll goes to put it in the box and Smith handballs it at 2-2 it's not a pen, then they go and score ffs
— Patrick 🔨 (@ffsPatrick) March 11, 2017
The three points lift Bournemouth six points clear of the bottom three, though Middlesbrough can bring that total back down to five if they win their game in hand.
West Ham remain 11th, but are now just three points ahead of Bournemouth with 10 games of the season remaining.
