Wolves are still recovering from the decisive VAR drama that came at the end of their 2-1 defeat to West Ham, with one of Gary O’Neil’s youngsters speaking out on the key moment in the fixture that left him ‘devastated’.
It’s been a tough few weeks for Wolves who have seen their form take a dip due to key injuries plaguing Gary O’Neil’s already wilted squad.
The Old Gold have been fighting adversity since the opening day of the season due to the size of their team, with the summer of 2023 seeing the squad shrink at the hands of financial restrictions.
Key players were sold with no room to be replaced, leaving O’Neil with a sizeable job on his hands to keep Wolves at the level needed to compete in the top flight.
With seven games of the 2023/24 Premier League season remaining, the boss has defied the odds to ensure the Old Gold are safe from relegation amid their squad concerns however, all of the manager’s hard work felt wasted after last week’s result against West Ham.
Wolves players are still ‘devastated’ over key moment against West Ham
It looked as though the hosts had found an equaliser at Molineux last week against the Hammers, as Max Kilman scored a 101st-minute goal to earn his side a crucial point.
Unfortunately, Wolves’ elation was cut short when VAR intervened and ruled the goal out for offside, despite Kilman not being in an offside position.
The reason the goal was denied was due to the positioning of Tawanda Chirewa, who was spotted standing in Lukasz Fabianski’s line of sight in an offside position – a decision that left all associated with the Old Gold furious.
Speaking to Express and Star on the moment that denied Wolves a hard-fought point, the 20-year-old admitted he had been left “devastated” by VAR’s controversial call.
“I had no clue it was about me! I came back for the kick-off and had no clue the referee was talking about me, I thought it was something else.”
“I was devastated because I came on at 2-1 down and 2-2 would have been a good moment, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
Wolves were hit with another VAR controversy against West Ham
It wasn’t only young Chirewa who was left hurt by the decision to chalk Kilman’s late goal out, with O’Neil and many other figures of the game also frustrated.
The result was a difficult one for Wolves to take, as the depleted squad pushed until the dying embers to source a point, only to see it cruelly snatched away due to the decision of VAR.
It’s not the first time the Old Gold have been left feeling perplexed by the intervention of VAR this season, with all of the club’s controversies throughout the 2023/24 campaign listed here.