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Wales Online
Sport
Paul Clarke

Former referee criticises decisions in Cardiff City's loss at Burnley and admits he's baffled by one call

Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has analysed two major decisions during Burnley's 2-0 win at home to Cardiff City and has criticised the officials.

Burnley dealt Cardiff City a blow in their bid to evade relegation from the top tier by claiming the victory.

Cardiff City, who sit in 18th, are five points adrift with five games left , while Burnley are eleven points ahead of the Welsh side and safe from relegation.

But it could have been so different had they not benefited from a lucky call at Turf Moor, with Cardiff boss Neil Warnock subsequently up in arms.

Chris Woods scored for Burnley with a header from a corner but Ashley Barnes was stood in an offside position and in front of Cardiff goalkeeper Neil Etheridge

Gallagher went through this decision during Sky Sports' Ref Watch on Monday morning and says the goal should have never been allowed to stand.

"You have to disallow this. You can't see the goalkeeper from a straight angle, which tells you he has to be in his line of vision. He has to bend to see around him," Gallagher told Sky Sports.

Cardiff boss Neil Warnock (Huw Evans Agency)

Cardiff also felt like they had been hard done by to when they were initially awarded a penalty for a handball by Ben Mee, only for Mike Dean to overturn the decision once he had consulted with his fellow officials.

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Gallagher, however, insists that this call was eventually correct, though he did have some criticism for the way the situation was handled.

"Correct decision. It's a mystery to me why Darren Cann got involved. From his view it's impossible to see if he's handled the ball," Gallagher added.

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"Mike Dean has had some input from Ian Hussin on the other side, which is correct, it's not handball because Ben Mee has headed it down onto his arm, and very brave from a guy who is 75 yards away. He might be 75 yards away but he's got a great view and has got the decision correct."

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