“I’m lost for words” – Coventry City claim made after controversial Man Utd decision in FA Cup

Coventry City more than played their part in an FA Cup spectacle at Wembley Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Although Mark Robins’ side came up short by the narrowest of margins, the Sky Blues can be more than proud of their collective efforts that ran Manchester United mighty close in the semi-final after a dramatic 120 minutes and penalty shootout at the National Stadium.

However, as we’ve seen in a number of big games so far this season, the thrilling 3-3 encounter wasn’t without controversy.

Coventry fan pundit issues stance on controversial 121st minute flashpoint

Somebody who was among the 83,672 crowd at Wembley was Football League World’s Coventry City fan pundit, Neil Littlewood.

After the game was already full of enough drama as City came back from 3-0 down to draw level through Ellis Simms, a deflected Callum O’Hare strike and Haji Wright’s 95th minute penalty, they were also inches away from completing one of the most remarkable comebacks in the history of the prestigious competition.

Haji Wright was played through by O’Hare, before picking out Norwegian midfielder Victor Torp in the middle of the box, who slid an effort past Andre Onana with almost the last kick of the game, thinking he’d sent the Sky Blues to just their second-ever FA Cup final.

However, his and the ‘Sky Blue Army’s joy was cut-short, as VAR officials Michael Salisbury, Peter Bankes and Nick Greenhalgh deemed Wright to have been beyond Aaron Wan-Bissaka prior to his ball across to Torp.

As is the case with a lot of people, this decision has split opinion, and Littlewood began by stating “I don’t even know where to start with this!”

“It ruined the game, didn’t it? Let’s be honest. I’ve looked back at a couple of different angles. Wright’s stationary and Wan-Bissaka is going backwards. I don’t know what advantage he got.

“I thought VAR was supposed to be for clear and obvious errors, and that’s not a clear and obvious error,” he continued.

“Go back and look at the United players and none of them appeal. (Bruno) Fernandes sticks his hand up at the end because he sees (Andre) Onana doing it, but he gives up quite quickly.

Littlewood concluded: “It’s tough, it really is. I’m lost for words. It ruined a spectacle of a game and one of the greatest FA Cup stories. It’s a bitter pill to swallow.”

Contrasting verdict issued on Victor Torp’s disallowed goal

One man who believes that the decision was the right one is the Daily Mirror’s Chief Football Writer, John Cross.

He stated: “Just because it would have been a great fairytale, we cannot suddenly ditch VAR.

“Sorry to be a killjoy, but the offside decision to disallow what would have been Victor Torp’s extra-time winner was the correct one.

Cross also believes that many football fans in general are getting the wrong end of the stick when it comes to the decision, as the benefit of social media and technology allows for the image to be zoomed in on at length.

“There is a picture floating around of the blue line going over Manchester United defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s foot is deceiving because the key line is red and that shows that Haji Wright is offside in the build-up,” Cross added.