Jan Paul van Hecke guilty as Peter Bankes manipulated by Bournemouth star – Keith Hackett
Peter Bankes was given no choice but to award a penalty for Jan Paul van Hecke’s challenge on Bournemouth’s Evanilson.
That is according to former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official, Keith Hackett, who exclusively told Football Insider that the Dutch defender was at fault as Bournemouth sealed a 2-1 win over Brighton.
Alex Scott opened the scoring with a sensational long-range effort before Kaoru Mitoma netted an equaliser shortly after half-time at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday, 13 September.
With an hour on the clock, Antoine Semenyo stepped up to take a Bournemouth penalty, though the awarding of the spot-kick has been debated after Peter Bankes gave the decision in the Cherries’ favour.
Evanilson buys a penalty from Peter Bankes
Van Hecke’s teammates disagreed with the decision, with the guilty party even continuing to play like nothing had happened, but it was too late, as the penalty had been awarded.
Football Insider understands that Brighton are likely to reject future bids for Van Hecke amid interest from Newcastle United, and despite being an accomplished defender, this was not his finest moment.
Hackett was frustrated by the incident, firstly accusing Evanilson of attempting to manipulate the referee, and while that idea stuck, he could not defend the Brighton man for his actions.
It turned out to be the goal that won Andoni Iraola‘s side the game, which further confounded the former PGMOL chief’s annoyance.
Jan Paul van Hecke’s schoolboy defending is to blame for Brighton’s loss
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former referee said: “He’s stuck a leg out. The defender has stuck a leg out, and the player’s gone down. It’s always going to be a penalty kick.
“This area of the game creates problems for the referee, and it has done so for a number of years. The player has clearly bought the penalty kick. He knew what he was doing, definitely.
“The player has done exactly what he set out to do – win a penalty kick. In a penalty area, you don’t stick a leg out, so if I’m the manager, I’m giving some advice to my defender. Attackers are too good.”