Gary Neville slams ‘strange’ decision by referee Simon Hooper to blow for a foul with Jack Grealish clean through on goal, after initially giving Man City the advantage against Spurs
- The referee blew for a foul at the Etihad with Jack Grealish through on goal
- Manchester City's chaotic league match with Tottenham ended in a 3-3 draw
- Big Ange has lost three in a row, but there's a good chance he'll change his style: IAKO
There was frustration at the Etihad when referee Simon Hooper blew for a foul just as Jack Grealish ran through on goal.
The incident took place in stoppage time of an action-packed match between Manchester City and Tottenham, which was tied at 3-3 at the time and remained that way.
No offside flag was flagged, and despite allowing play to continue, Hooper opted to have play called back for a foul – despite the clear chance Grealish had.
Grealish's teammate Erling Haaland was among those who protested against the call-up on Hooper, despite continued calls for football officials to be respected with Mail Sport's Stop Abusing Referees campaign.
Commentator Gary Neville said on Sky Sports: 'Oh no, oh no. Simon Hooper, he played on to begin with, what did he do there.
Referee Simon Hooper was criticized for blowing up when Jack Grealish was through on goal
Mail Sport has launched a campaign to stop the abuse of referees at all levels of the game
'He did play the advantage, which was a real surprise, Haaland gets a mistake and he lets it go for a while and then hits it. He sees the pass, very strange.'
A social comment on a video of the incident read: 'So Haaland is fouled, stands up straight and plays the ball with the advantage to Grealish who was clear at the time and Simon Hooper whistles for the foul.
'Absolutely horrendous performance.'
Tottenham shocked the hosts with an early goal through Son Heung-min, but Manchester City took a 2-1 lead at half-time through Son's own goal and a Phil Foden strike.
Giovani Lo Celso leveled the scores in the 69th minute, before Grealish regained Man City's lead ten minutes from time.
Dejan Kulusevski equalized for Spurs in the final minute of normal time at the Etihad, before the late drama that saw the referee blow up at a bad time for the hosts.
More to follow…