Alan Smith shares verdict on bizarre incident in second half of Everton win v Brentford
Alan Smith has shared his verdict on a bizarre incident that happened in the second half of the Everton game against Brentford on Saturday (23 September).
Speaking on co-commentary for Sky Sports (07:04pm), the pundit said referee Michael Oliver was “cussing himself” after he got in the way of the Bees having a shot at an open goal following a poor clearance from the Toffees keeper Jordan Pickford.
He added that referees “get in the way quite a lot” but that it’s not usually to prevent a goalscoring opportunity, as the Blues secured a 3-1 win against Brentford.
“Michael Oliver cussing himself there,” said Smith. “The refs get in the way quite a lot, but not usually to prevent a goalscoring chance because that’s what that was.
“It wasn’t an easy chance, it was a half-chance from that distance.”
Rare moment
It was an extremely rare and, quite frankly, bizarre incident to see the referee get in the way of Brentford potentially getting a goal back against Everton.
After Pickford made a poor clearance, the ball fell to a Bees player midway through the Toffees’ half and the goal was gaping.
Although he was quite far out and there were a lot of bodies in the way, he could have definitely scored from that distance before Oliver stepped across his path.
It was an unfortunate incident for the referee and you could clearly see that he was embarrassed that it happened, but there wasn’t too much he could do about it.
The Blues will be secretly thankful it did happen, though, as it would’ve been an excellent opportunity for the hosts to halve the deficit and potentially make it a difficult last 20 minutes.
In other Everton news, a £4million payoff update has emerged to sack Sean Dyche.