Dermot Gallagher reviews controversial decisions in the Premier League after each round of games, on behalf of Sky Sports.
The former top referee has now given his call on this incident in the Newcastle United v Bournemouth match.
Dermot Gallagher looking at what happened during a big moment in this match at St James’ Park.
A game that Bournemouth went on to win with a goal five minutes from time.
So what about this ‘controversial’ incident…
Dermot Gallagher talking to Sky Sports about this Newcastle United v Bournemouth controversial incident:
INCIDENT:
Will Osula equalises for Newcastle United against Bournemouth but only following an intervention from the VAR after the goal was initially ruled out for offside.
DERMOT GALLAGHER:
“It did work and they got the correct outcome because I watched the game live and said, ‘he is offside, it will be disallowed.’
“I then saw the replay and realised it was Evanilson who kicked the ball and not his colleague. The assistant thought it was the Newcastle player, but it was not.”
SKY SPORTS PUNDIT AND FORMER PLAYER JAY BOTHROYD:
“I saw it straight with the naked eye and it was the right ruling and a great goal VAR [Matt Donohue] was good in that moment.
“The time [to come to the decision] is different, but they came to the right decision and if that is in the Championship, they are not going to see that, it is going to be offside.
“So it is the right decision in the end but we would want to see it happen sooner.”
As Jay Bothroyd indicates, the big ‘controversy’ here is not the final outcome BUT the length of time that the VAR took to see the obvious.
At the match you thought it was a case of whether or not Will Osula was ahead of the last defender when the pass was made.
However, once you see the TV replay, it is immediately obvious that it was Evanilson, not Bruno Guimaraes, who played the ‘pass’ to Will Osula. So it didn’t matter where Osula had been in relation to the last defender as he couldn’t be offside regardless.
Newcastle 1 Bournemouth 2 – Saturday 18 April 2026 3pm
Match Stats
Goals:
Newcastle United:
Osula 68
Bournemouth:
Tavernier 32, Truffert 85
Possession was Newcastle 54% Bournemouth 46%
Total shots were Newcastle 12 Bournemouth 12
Shots on target were Newcastle 3 Bournemouth 3
Corners were Newcastle 2 Bournemouth 3
Touches in the opposition box Newcastle 40 Bournemouth 24
Newcastle team v Bournemouth:
Ramsdale, Livramento (Burn 74), Thiaw, Botman, Hall (Trippier 46), Miley, Tonali (Woltemade 86), Ramsey (Bruno 62), Osula, Barnes, Elanga (Jacob Murphy 62)
Unused subs:
Pope, Wissa, Alex Murphy, Willock