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Wanderers’ frustrations against Burton Albion showed exactly why VAR should be used in the EFL, says Ian Evatt.
Most Bolton fans were left perplexed after Kieran Lee’s first-half ‘goal’ against the Brewers was ruled out for offside, and a late push in the penalty box was also missed by referee Josh Smith.
On both occasions, Evatt believes video referees would have been able to give a definitive answer and – in his opinion – have found in favour of his own side.
VAR is already commonplace in the top flight and international football but the Wanderers boss feels clubs further down the pyramid are being deprived the same opportunities to get the correct calls.
“For me, there’s enough money in the game for VAR to be across the board,” he said. “It matters at the Premier League, it matters in the Championship, League One and League Two.
“In fact, arguably it matters more in League One and League Two because clubs can’t afford these decisions to go against them at times, literally can’t afford to.
“I’d like to see it. As I said, referees have got a really difficult job and any tool that we can utilise to help them, why wouldn’t we?”
With the Sky TV cameras in situ at the UniBol on Monday night the debate was extended to a wider audience. And though Burton boss Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink maintained that the decision to deem Eoin Doyle offside, and disallow Lee’s strike was the correct one, Evatt felt a review of the footage would have changed the referee’s mind.
Asked if TV monitors could be used to replay key incidents to officials outside the Premier League, he added: “Yeah, why not? We watch the footage and highlights more or less instantly of every game in the EFL after games, so there’s no reason why that couldn’t be the case.
“Games are televised and recorded from the right angles and multiple angles in every fixture on every Saturday and Tuesday, so there’s no reason why we can’t utilise that footage.”
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