When Georginio Rutter put the ball into the back of the net in the early stages of Leeds United’s cup tie with Fulham, there was a sense of bewilderment as Chris Kavanagh immediately blew the whistle to give the home side a free-kick.
Replays showed that Weston McKennie had put a hand into Harry Wilson’s back before heading the ball at goal. Was the contact unnecessary? Perhaps.
But did McKennie produce a strong enough to send Wilson flying to the ground with limbs flying everywhere? Not a chance. So it was almost baffling that the VAR did not overturn the decision and award Leeds the goal.
Gabriel goal particularly frustrating to see
And yet, it was so predictable.
The use of VAR has been an embarrassment all season. Every fan probably thinks that their club has been harshly treated. Some will try and claim that there is some sort of bizarre agenda against their team.
It is hard to imagine that there is anything sinister going on. But it does appear that there are a lot of incompetent officials working at the highest level of the game.
And further evidence of that came this afternoon as Arsenal faced Fulham.
The Gunners ultimately opened the scoring through Gabriel Magalhaes. The centre-back headed home a Leandro Trossard corner for the league leaders.
Immediately however, Fulham were not happy. And replays showed that Thomas Partey had obstructed Tosin Adarabioyo with a little push just as the Fulham centre-back was getting ready to jump.
Now, should the goal have been disallowed? No.
But any Leeds fans watching that would have been left infuriated given the goal we had disallowed not too long ago.
Two corners lead to goals at the same end of the same ground. Both involved potential infringements.
One push was penalised and led to the goal being ruled out.
The other, for Arsenal on Sunday, was allowed to stand.
Like we say, it’s all so predictable.