The English Football League are incredibly disappointed with the failure of Goal-Line Technology during Sunday’s Sky Bet Championship game between Huddersfield and Blackpool. The English Football League has now received a preliminary assessment from Hawk-Eye, a provider of goal-line technology services to the Championship, which suggests that in the incident with the ball being attacked by Huddersfield during the second half, match officials did not receive any indication on their watches or headsets, because, for multiple factors, the ball was no longer being tracked after entering Blackpools box. Replays suggested it had indeed crossed the line and should have been given. Hawk-Eye said that the level of interference causing the tech to fail had not been seen in over 9,000 matches the system had been used. “The EFL is incredibly frustrated that a technology failure has overshadowed a fantastic weekend of action on the pitch,” the EFL said in a statement.
Danny Schofield, the manager of Huddersfield, was unsatisfied with the decision. He raged after the game, saying, “It’s tough to swallow. I went straight to the bench after the game, checked the video, and knew without a doubt that it was a goal. I felt as though it was a clear goal; therefore, I needed that clarity in my head before asking the referee to explain why he didn’t award it. The ball was beyond the line when we watched it replay from several angles. He is making the decision based on Hawkeye or goal-line technology since he is pointing at his watch. If that’s the case, I don’t fault the referee for his decisions; without technology, it would be incredibly challenging.
Michael Appleton, the manager of Blackpool, said: “I haven’t gone back, and I did it on purpose, but I’ve been informed it was perhaps over the line, and that’s not ideal from their point of view. However, I know these kinds of things may happen since I’ve been in the business for a long time. They have occurred to me previously, and I am aware that the club was the victim of one last year when playing QPR.
Blackpool won 1-0 in the Championship thanks to Theo Corbeanu’s third goal in four games. With the victory, Blackpool snapped a losing streak at the John Smith’s Stadium that lasted three games and ran back to 2007. Huddersfield has now failed in five of its seven league games this season after being defeated by Bristol City in the middle of the week.
