Credit: Imago

Evan Lloyd

Sun 4 January 2026 17:21, UK

Craig Pawson will have a few moments to look back on after Liverpool drew 2-2 with Fulham on Sunday.

Already this season, Pawson has been involved in controversial games in the Premier League, but Sunday’s clash at Craven Cottage was a fairly tame affair.

Harry Wilson gave the Cottagers the lead in the first half, with Florian Wirtz finding a second-half equaliser and Cody Gakpo netting a late winner.

Then, in the final seconds, Harrison Reed found an extraordinary strike to level it up once again.

Wirtz has been slammed for Liverpool this season, but it was a strong finish from the German for the Reds’ first.

Here, Football Insider outlines three mistakes that Pawson made across the closely-contested 90 minutes.

38th minute – Craig Pawson gives a questionable corner

After a fairly quiet first half for Pawson, his first mistake came towards the end of it. Curtis Jones had played a hopeful ball in behind for Alexis Mac Allister, with Bernd Leno coming out to meet him.

The Argentine lost his footing and, as replays showed, carried the ball out of play for what should have been a goal kick.

To Leno’s disbelief, however, Pawson pointed towards the corner in a moment that clearly saw him guess.

One would think that the referee would side with the defending team in a scenario in which he is not sure of what the exact decision should be, with the possibility of a goal from a corner not equivalent to a goal-kick.

Luckily, Leno claimed the corner and there was little to come from a slightly questionable decision.

57th minute – Florian Wirtz ruled onside

While rather a question for the automated offside, Liverpool‘s equaliser may well need some explaining and further examination.

Wilson’s opener had also been disallowed for offside before it was ultimately given, but this was a much closer decision.

The German ran onto the ball and finished well past Leno, with the linesman raising his flag almost immediately.

Initial replays looked to prove that Wirtz had been clearly offside, but video assistant referee (VAR) Andy Madley went through the process and ultimately came up with a goal.

The automated VAR graphics showed a very tight decision, but the images of the pitch itself prompted questions.

Conveniently for offside purposes, the pitch at Craven Cottage has mowed lines throughout. One would assume these lines to be straight, but Wirtz’s foot appeared to be ahead of both the line and Issa Diop.

66th minute – Pawson ignores a blatant yellow card

Pawson generally managed to keep his cards in his pocket, only Wilson being handed a yellow for a blatant trip on Conor Bradley.

But he probably should have had his yellow card out for Diop, who attempted to provide the very definition of a yellow card challenge.

The Frenchman had been turned and decided to wrap his arms around his opponent, rather than let them get away with the ball.

Pawson blew for the free-kick, and Diop gingerly jogged off in preparation of the yellow card, but it never came.