Credit: Sky Sports Football

Exclusive: Hackett slams 'basic refereeing' failure that cost Plymouth v Burnley

Refereeing Consultant AUTHORITY Former FIFA Referee; Head of PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited). FOCUS Laws of the Game, VAR implementation, officiating performance, and PGMOL policy. THE AUDIT Keith utilises Statscore’s Officiating Telemetry, including Deep-Data Metrics like Incident Accuracy Rates, VAR Intervention Latency, and Official Positional Efficiency. He provides technical refereeing analysis to reveal the regulatory reality behind match-defining decisions.

Published on:

23 Jan 2025, 11:53 am

Keith Hackett has blasted the decision to allow Burnley's second goal against Plymouth with "basic refereeing" an issue.

The former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official exclusively told Football Insider that the ball was not stationary as Josh Cullen took a free-kick quickly, that led to the Claret's second goal.

The Pilgrims were demolished 5-0 by Burnley (22 January), after star-man Morgan Whittaker failed to turn up to the match according to manager Miron Muslic [talkSPORT].

Things may have been different had the goal been disallowed, with Plymouth only 1-0 down at that point in the match.

Zian Flemming grabs a brace! 💥 pic.twitter.com/GMq6SuAdVl
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) January 22, 2025

Failure to apply the law cost Plymouth according to Hackett

With 31 minutes on the clock, Burnley midfielder Cullen was brought down in the middle of the park, he then took the ensuing free-kick quickly, looping a long ball over the Pilgrim's defence to winger Jaidon Anthony.

The on-loan winger from Bournemouth then took the ball down, before firing a low cross into the path of Zian Flemming, who scored his, and Burnley's, second goal of the night.

However, the decision to allow the initial free-kick by referee John Busby, was a point of contention for the Plymouth players.

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the incident, Hackett said: "Basic refereeing not applied. The ball MUST be stationary at the taking of a free kick.

"This was not the case and it was an error by the match official. Strictly applying the law and good refereeing practice he should have seen this and stopped play immediately.

"When he didn’t he was in a hole and allowed play to continue. Yes the goal should have been ruled out and the free kick retaken. That’s the law."

Hackett was critical of referee John Busby

The decision to allow the goal to stand then gave Burnley the platform to take complete control of the game, with the Clarets scoring three more goals in the first-half.

Plymouth's game was not the only Championship match to catch Hackett's attention, after an incident in Sheffield United's meeting with Swansea on Tuesday (21 January).

The Pilgrims may make a move for young star Tegan Finn in the January transfer window.

In other news, there has been an update on Plymouth target Joe Low.

For more Plymouth news, follow us on Facebook or join our brand new WhatsApp Channel for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.

Burnley