GARY O’Neil conceded that the penalty awarded against his side in the dying stages of Cherries’ 2-0 defeat to West Ham was understandable, stating: “just the way it’s going at the minute.” There was controversy surrounding both of West Ham’s goals, with O’Neil and co. believing Thilo Kehrer to have handled in the build-up to Kurt Zouma’s opener in first-half injury time. Said Benrahma converted a penalty awarded at the death when Jordan Zemura was adjudged to have used his arm to block Vladimir Coufal’s cross into the box. With Cherries pushing for an equaliser at the time, the second goal sealed West Ham’s win and consigned Cherries to back-to-back defeats in the Premier League.
Speaking on the penalty,
Gary O’Neil said: “I understand that one and I think it’s really hard on the lads because we have West Ham camped and they go nowhere near our goal for a very long time. We are pushing and pushing, they get one breakaway. They are crossing the ball with not many people in the box, it’s not really a dangerous situation. Just the way it’s going at the minute. If it misses Jordan Zemura, we are in no danger, if it hits him on the body and goes out for a corner – it’s just really, really unlucky.”
The former West Ham and Portsmouth midfielder went on to question whether the decision was correct, arguing that it was “impossible” for his defender to keep his arms down whilst sliding in for the ball.
Gary O Neil continued: “If we want to go into real depth of discussion of national position of arms – anyone who has ever slid for a ball knows they will never be by your side – it’s impossible to have your hands by your side when you are propelling yourself to throw yourself in front of a ball. If anyone did it with their hands by their side they would look ridiculous. His hand goes into a high position – as it does during football matches when you are moving the body and it’s on its way back down. The hard thing to take is the huge advantage West Ham gained from their two handballs and we were gaining no advantage from the ball hitting Jordan Zemura on the hand.”
