Petrov's Late FA Cup Equalizer Causes Linesman Controversy

Television replays showed the official wrongly awarded a corner that led to Petrov’s late equaliser in the 2-2 draw. Photo by BGNES

Crystal Palace manager Neil Warnock has called for an assistant referee to be suspended after Bulgarian Stiliyan Petrov’s dramatic late FA Cup equalizer on Sunday.

Warnock said that assistant referee Trevor Massey should be suspended "for a long time" after Crystal Palace’s FA Cup draw with Aston Villa.

Television replays showed the official wrongly awarded a corner that led to Petrov’s late equaliser in the 2-2 draw.

"Their second goal is a disgrace," said Warnock. "We gave everything and in the end we were let down by incompetence,” he added, cited by the BBC.

Crystal Palace led 2-1 with three minutes remaining, thanks to a stunning free-kick by Darren Ambrose.

But referee Kevin Friend - on the say-so of Massey - incorrectly awarded the Premier League outfit a corner after the ball had hit Nathan Delfouneso, although the incident occurred at high speed with the referee outside the penalty area.

From the resulting corner, Villa captain Petrov headed home the equalizer to take the tie to a replay at Villa Park on Wednesday 24 February and Warnock could not hide his disgust.

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