Exclusive: Niclas Fullkrug ‘suspicious’ as West Ham goal ruled out v Southampton
West Ham were forced to settle for a draw with the Premier League’s bottom side Southampton after having a goal disallowed in that match, with Keith Hackett giving his verdict on that incident.
The former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official exclusively told Football Insider that referee Andrew Kitchen was right to disallow Niclas Fullkrug’s header for a foul on Saints goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.
With West Ham manager Graham Potter likely to be coming under increasing pressure after this result, Fullkrug did not hold back with a scathing assessment of his teammates at full time in this game.
Frustrations for the German may have already been building during the match, after he saw a goal that would have given his side a 2-0 lead ruled out.
Niclas Fullkrug denied after challenge on Aaron Ramsdale
Fullkrug recently scored his first goal for West Ham in the 2-2 draw with Bournemouth, and looked as though he would continue his solid form here.
The striker had provided an assist for Jarrod Bowen to open the scoring just after half time, and then thought he had a goal of his own midway through the second half.
West Ham were unfortunate not to have a penalty when Bowen was hauled back by Jack Stephens inside the area, with the Hammers being forced to settle for a corner instead.
| Niclas Fullkrug vs Southampton | Total (as per SofaScore) |
| Successful Passes | 12/16 |
| Key Passes | 4 |
| Shots on Target | 1 |
| Shots off Target | 0 |
| Fouls | 2 |
As that set-piece was sent to the back by James Ward-Prowse, Ramsdale failed to hold the ball under pressure from Fullkrug, allowing the striker to head home from close range.
However, Kitchen felt that the West Ham man had illegaly impeded the goalkeeper, and therefore blew for a free kick to Southampton.
Now, Hackett believes that the inexperienced referee made the correct decision in choosing to rule out that all important second goal for the Hammers, do to the “suspicious” actions of the striker.
‘West Ham can have no complaints over disallowed goal’ – Keith Hackett
After being asked by Football Insider if ruling out this goal was the right decision or a case of a goalkeeper being overly protected, the former referee said:
“I think the referee’s got that one right. [Fullkrug] as you look at him… I think what makes it suspicious to the referee is that he’s up early, he’s risen early and his right arm is out.
“Therefore if he makes contact with anything he’s going to be penalised. This is this referee’s first Premier League game and I think in fairness he did really well. He didn’t overreact…
“I promoted the idea of this guy getting a Premier League game and I think generally he came out of it quite well. I think 99 out of 100 referees are going to disallow that goal because of the challenge on Ramsdale.”
With West Ham being denied that second goal, Southampton then went on to score a late equaliser through Lesley Ugochukwu, moving them level with Derby’s record low Premier League points tally of 11.