Blunder ref Keith Stroud punished for error which almost denied Newcastle top spot in Championship
Official disallowed Toon penalty without allowing a retake and has now been withdrawn from weekend fixtures
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BLUNDER referee Keith Stroud has been punished after his mistake almost cost Newcastle a vital win over Burton Albion, despite issuing a grovelling apology.
The cock-up official was ridiculed after farcically disallowing Newcastle’s penalty and he will no longer take charge of Gillingham's clash with Millwall this weekend.
Toon boss Rafa Benitez and his bench went ballistic after Stroud mysteriously ruled out Matt Ritchie’s 68th successful minute spot-kick.
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Replays showed Dwight Gayle had encroached, but FA rules clearly state the penalty should therefore have been RETAKEN.
And Stroud has now issued a statement via the PGMOL apologising for his actions which nearly denied Newcastle the chance to return to the top of the Championship table.
It read: “Unfortunately the referee has misapplied the Law. Keith and his team are understandably upset at the lapse in concentration and apologise for the mistake.”
The error led to former top ref Mark Halsey declaring on the night: “How can a senior professional referee can gets this decision wrong?
“Keith Stroud appears to have got the law totally wrong.
“It is a basic law (14) that if an attacker encroaches while the penalty is being taken and the player scores, it is disallowed and must be retaken.
“The only time you would award an indirect free-kick is if an attacker encroaches and the spot-kick is missed.
“No disrespect to Keith, but you would expect a level seven referee to get that right on a Sunday morning. He should have ordered for the kick to be retaken.
“There appears to be no other infringement committed by a Newcastle player while the penalty is being taken and there is no reasonable explanation for why Burton were awarded an indirect free-kick.”
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Benitez could at least smile after Ritchie scored a 68th-minute winner to put Toon back on top of the Championship.
But the Spaniard admitted: “Everyone saw what happened. It is a strange decision and that’s it. The main thing is the players had to regain concentration because we lost it.”
Puzzled Burton boss Nigel Clough said: “I don’t know what happened — but it shouldn’t have been a penalty in the first place.
“At least it didn’t settle the match. You don’t want controversial decisions deciding games.”
Matt Ritchie's winner fired Newcastle top of the Championship again.
His super 68th-minute strike was enough as the Toon took a big step closer to promotion.
But it was the first-half goal which Ritchie had chalked off which was the game’s real talking point.
Nobody inside St James’s Park could understand why referee Keith Stroud chose to rule out the Toon winger’s spot-kick.
Yet thankfully for Benitez’s blood pressure, Ritchie ensured Stroud’s decision mattered little to the end result — and Newcastle’s bid to return to the Premier League.
They are now a point above second-placed Brighton and still have a ten-point cushion in the automatic promotion spots.And with just six games to go, the Toon can surely already start planning for the top-flight next term.
Quite how Benitez would have reacted afterwards had Newcastle not scored, however, does not bear thinking about. Stroud had pointed to the spot when Gayle went down in the box under a tackle by Burton’s Tom Flanagan — a foul which looked dubious.
But after Ritchie stuck his penalty into the bottom right corner, Stroud (right) inexplicably blew his whistle and gave the Brewers a free-kick.
Play was held up for five minutes as Toon stars surrounded the ref and his assistant Matthew McGrath, while Rafa raged at fourth official Tony Harrington.
Stroud was roundly booed when he blew up for half-time and Benitez’s No2 Mikel Antia confronted him on the pitch.
The Bournemouth whistler’s Wikipedia page was also quickly changed by pranksters to state: “He will be seen in the local jobcentre first thing in the morning.” Stroud claimed he had seen a foul by Gayle when Ritchie was taking his penalty.
Yet replays only showed Gayle encroaching in the box — it should have been retaken.
Newcastle came out after the break with a score to settle and Ayoze Perez shot just wide from Christian Atsu’s throughball, while Mo Diame had a strike well stopped by Burton keeper Jon McLaughlin.
But Ritchie finally grabbed the goal he should have had already. And it was a beauty, as he cut in from the left and unleashed a curling, right-footed 20-yard effort into McLaughlin’s top left corner.
It was his 15th goal of the season — but the one that didn’t count will live longer in his memory.