Jeff Stelling was puzzled as to why Match of the Day chose not to discuss Newcastle's controversial second penalty during their 4-3 win against West Ham on Saturday.
Newcastle completed a stunning comeback thanks to two late Harvey Barnes goals to get the win in the early kick-off in St James' Park. West Ham had raced to a 3-1 lead after goals from Michail Antonio, Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen cancelled out Alexander Isak's first penalty after 6 minutes. Another Isak penalty and the two from Barnes in the last 15 minutes of the game gave Newcastle the most unlikely of wins.
However it was the Magpies second goal which caused a lot of controversy. Newcastle were awarded their second penalty of the day when referee Rob Jones deemed that Anthony Gordon was fouled by Kalvin Phillips, who was unaware of where Gordon was and was attempting to clear the ball but Gordon got his foot just in front of the ball.
You can watch the incident at 1:31 in the video below.
Many thought it was a harsh decision but it wasn't overturned by VAR and Alexander Isak converted from the spot to spark the comeback.
Jeff Stelling calls out 'Match of the Day' for ignoring controversial penalty
It was the turning point of the match and was a major talking point, so when Match of the Day failed to mention the decision in their analysis that night it had a few baffled, one of them being Jeff Stelling.
The former Soccer Saturday presenter was speaking on talkSPORT and talked about the lack of coverage about the controversial incident but was quick to say it had to be a producer's decision rather than a decision by host Alex Scott.
Interesting that MotD decided the second Newcastle pen was not worth discussing despite it being prob the most controversial decision of the weekend. Not the fault btw of @AlexScott just terrible production decision.
— Jeff Stelling (@JeffStelling) March 30, 2024
Interesting that MOTD decided the second Newcastle pen was not worth discussing despite it being probably the most controversial decision of the weekend.
Not the fault btw of Alex Scott just terrible production decision
It was certainly poor to ignore such a key incident.
Stelling would go on to say that Newcastle defender Fabian Schar feigned a head injury in the game, something he felt was unacceptable.
You know I love @NUFC but it’s clearly not a SERIOUS head injury. A scratch at worst. Schar needed to get up and get on with it. We need to stop people feigning head injuries. Anyway you won so it doesn’t matter. Barnes fabulous.
— Jeff Stelling (@JeffStelling) March 30, 2024
This result was a big one for Newcastle in what has been a very poor season from their perspective, with manager Eddie Howe coming under some pressure in recent weeks.
The decision to give Anthony Gordon that second penalty could end up being a turning point in their campaign.
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