Corry Evans was visibly bewildered after Romanian referee Ovidiu Hategan pointed to the spot following a blocked shot from Xherdan Shaqiri in the second half of Thursday night's World Cup playoff first-leg.
The penalty was converted by Ricardo Rodriguez and was the only goal of the game, leaving Northern Ireland with a big mountain to climb for the second leg, and everyone associated with the green and white army was justifiably left with a sense of outrage following the decision.
To their credit, the players got on with the job and tried to battle back into the game, but if Corry Evans' night was difficult already, it was unquestionably made more uncomfortable by the reaction of his wife on social media.
The Blackburn Rovers midfielder today issued an apology after his wife made some disgraceful comments towards the referee in the aftermath of the final whistle.
On behalf of my wife, I would like to apologise unreservedly for the content and language contained in the Tweet that she issued last night.
The comments were published in the heat of the moment and are not representative of her views.
The Tweets have since been deleted, but this is Twitter in the year 2017.
Wow! Corry Evans' wife is so gracious in defeat. I would be more worried that 'Norn Iron' homes xenophobes like her. pic.twitter.com/64q1Q7B0K5
— Caitríona (@Caitriona88) November 10, 2017
Unacceptable.
It would have been incredibly difficult for her to see her husband at the centre of such an injustice, but there is absolutely no place for that.
The referee had a shocker. He was not in a position to correctly make the call, so he guessed, and in doing so made a terrible decision that had dominated headlines all over the world, but that in no way comes close to justifying what was said.
Michael O'Neill will be doing his best to refocus his squad for Sunday, and he will be hoping that the fire will be lit beneath the players he selects to go and get a result in Switzerland.
