Jeff Stelling reacts to controversial moments from Barnsley vs Sheffield Wednesday with strong message | OneFootball

Jeff Stelling hit out at VAR after Barnsley were denied a penalty and saw Adam Phillips sent off in their League One play-off final against Sheffield Wednesday.

What happened in the Barnsley vs Sheffield Wednesday game?

After a dull first half, where neither side managed to really impose themselves on the game, things started to heat up after the break.

Firstly, Lee Gregory appeared to catch Liam Kitching when trying to clear the ball in the box, but the supposed foul was missed by referee Tim Robinson. The game was stopped as VAR checked the incident, but, despite replays showing there was clear contact, it wasn’t deemed a clear and obvious error, so play went on, much to the anger of Barnsley.

Shortly after, Robinson pulled out the red card for Phillips, after he went in late on Gregory, with the official appearing to be in contact with his team before making the call.

Once again, replays indicated he made the wrong call, as whilst Phillips didn’t play the ball, he didn’t catch Gregory with his right foot, so it was a surprise to see it was deemed dangerous play, with VAR again not interfering.

It’s fair to say that Stelling, who left his job as a Sky Sports presenter over the weekend, wasn’t impressed with the decisions, as he took to Twitter to criticise those working on VAR today.

“VAR total joke again in the League One play off . Clear Barnsley pen denied and moments later a red card for a challenge that was yellow at worst. Afraid to tell the ref he has got it wrong.”

Most will agree with Stelling here

It’s hard to argue with what Stelling has said here, as the vast majority will surely agree that Barnsley were on the end of two very poor decisions here. You can understand why the ref initially failed to award a penalty, but VAR should have stepped in and asked him to review.

The red card seemed harsh at the time, but, again, mistakes can be made, and that’s why VAR was introduced to rectify such decisions. So, their failure to get involved was baffling as Phillips’ clearly missed with the tackle.

Ultimately, it’s a shame that we’re talking about VAR on such a big game, but those involved simply weren’t good enough.