FOOTBALL fans were left furious after the League One playoff semi-final between Leyton Orient and Stockport was marred by a “ludicrous” offside call.
Charlie Kelman opened the scoring for Orient in the first half, despite seemingly being significantly offside when he tapped in his 26th goal of the season.
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Kelman got on the end of a loose header in the box to put his side 1-0 up heading into half-time.
However, there was a huge gap between the last Stockport defender and the 23-year-old forward when the ball was nodded on by Omar Beckles.
Beckles jumped up to flick on a speculative Sean Clare ball that was heading into the box.
Kelman was narrowly onside from the Clare ball, but was very clearly beyond the last man when Beckles tried to flick it on.
It’s not clear if Beckles did manage to get a touch on the ball, but the officials seemed to think he didn’t, as the goal was awarded and the game subsequently overshadowed by the decision.
Fans were convinced that Beckles did touch it and immediately took to social media to voice their opinions.
One wrote: “Could get a tank in there!”
While another added: ” @Specsavers, do you have room for this Lino?”
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A third wrote: “It’s terrible guys, absolutely terrible”.
And a fourth posted: “I do not want VAR but with officials this bad we might actually need it”.
It wasn’t just fans that were furious either, but also the Stockport players.
They immediately surrounded referee Benjamin Speedie to explain that they felt a mistake had been made.
While Stockport boss Dave Challinor could be seen confronting the official in the tunnel at half-time.
Unfortunately for Stockport, they were unable to change the referee’s mind
And without VAR in the playoff semi-finals, the officials could do nothing to overturn the initial decision.
Stockport managed to quickly overturn the deficit themselves though.
Goals from Oliver Norwood and Fraser Horsfall after the break put Stockport 2-1 up at Brisbane Road.
However, Horsfall went from hero to villain when he handled the ball in the box in the 87th minute, gifting Leyton Orient a late penalty to level the scores – a spot kick dispatched by Kelman for his second.
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