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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Ewan Paton

If Scotland suffered identical England heartache I'd be fuming, admits ex-ref

Former Scottish official Steve Conroy insists the referee in England's loss to France missed two clear fouls which were to the detriment of Gareth Southgate's side.

The ex-whistler says that if those decisions had impacted on the Scotland national side then he would've been left reeling.

Wilton Sampaio certainly appeared to make some controversial calls during Saturday night's World Cup quarter-final tie between the English and the French.

The current holders of the competition prevailed as 2-1 winners in normal time, with Olivier Giroud scoring a late header to seal their progression to the semis.

Harry Kane had the opportunity from the penalty spot even later in the match to almost certainly send the game to extra-time. However, the captain blazed over the bar.

England felt as if they should've had a spot kick in the first-half in addition to their two in the second.

They were also convinced that Aurélien Tchouaméni's opener should've been disallowed by VAR for a foul on Bukayo Saka in the build-up to the goal.

Neither went in England's favour. And Conroy admits if Scotland were in England's shoes, he'd feel aggrieved as well.

He told Grosvenor Sport: "I’d have expected better from somebody from such a big league, someone who is one of the big hitters.

"I can see England’s point, and if it had happened to Scotland, I’d have been annoyed at the foul and not getting a penalty. 

"With the foul leading up to the goal, there is so much ambiguity even with VAR in terms of the time you go back and review it and the incident.

"Again, I’d be really annoyed if it happened to Scotland, but I can see why it wasn’t given because we’ve had discussions up here on the length of time that you allow it.

"In my opinion, I think the foul was too historic to the goal. I can see why it was given.

"I don’t think there is anything carved in stone, but my opinion on that is that it was too far back but it was certainly a foul."

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