New development emerges after controversial Jaidon Anthony incident for Burnley v West Brom | OneFootball

The Clarets had the potential of picking up another victory snatched away from them by the referee's call.

Jaidon Anthony's ruled-out goal for Burnley in their 0-0 draw against West Bromwich Albion was chalked off by the referee despite being told to give it by the linesman, as per the Patreon account of The Sun journalist Alan Nixon

Burnley have struggled for goals as of late. Some are worried that this pattern with Scott Parker's teams of scoring loads of goals in his first few games with them and then things beginning to dry up is happening to the promotion-chasing Clarets, who have now scored just two times in their last five games.

A late winner from the penalty spot thanks to Jay Rodriguez was all that separated Burnley from Swansea City in their most recent game, but it's the contest prior to that which is beginning to draw attention again.

It was a 0-0 draw at the Hawthorns between West Brom and the Clarets. The best chances in the match fell to Burnley players but none of them could convert. Well, actually, one of them did.

Anthony, who worked with Parker the last time he won promotion to the Premier League, with AFC Bournemouth, thought that he had netted his second goal in claret and blue colours after he headed in from a Lucas Pires cross in the second half. The goal was ruled out, though, because of an alleged push by the 24-year-old on Baggies defender Callum Styles.

At the time, it looked very soft, and Parker wasn't happy with the decision. "It's a goal, there's no two ways about it, the referee's given it from a big distance and the linesman hasn't given it," said the Burnley boss to BBC Radio Lancashire.

In contrast to the former Bournemouth and Fulham boss' initial post-match thoughts, it appears that the linesman did believe that Anthony had scored a legitimate goal.

It has emerged, as per the Patreon account of The Sun journalist Alan Nixon, that Anthony's controversially disallowed goal against West Brom was OK'd by the linesman, who had a better view of the incident, but the referee, Tom Nield, overruled the assistant's decision and decided to give a foul instead of a goal.

Nield was at the epicentre of more controversy in his previous Championship match too. This one featured Preston North End against Bristol City. The Robins came out on top with a 3-1 victory away at Deepdale, but it wasn't without the help of some more very questionable refereeing.

For the opening goal of the match, Jordan Storey attempted to head the ball back to goalkeeper Freddie Woodman. He would have safely collected the ball had Yu Hirakawa not knocked the ball away from the shot-stopper's gloves with his own hand, putting him in behind with an open goal in front of him.

Nield did not take charge of a game in this most recent set of weekend Championship fixtures. Nixon added in his report that Burnley took up the decision with him.

Poor back-to-back refereeing decisions will make VAR demands stronger

Most of the time, it's fair to say that, over the course of a season, bad decisions will balance themselves out. However, these mishaps can have serious ramifications.

Burnley are looking to get promoted back to the English top flight at the first time of asking. An extra two points could be vital for them at the end of the season, and they were taken away from them thanks to Nield's decision. Had they won that game, they would now be level on points with Leeds United, who are third in the league.

The Hirakawa goal against Preston is much more of a black and white, obvious error. As much as the Clarets' supporters would have been happy to see their rivals' hardship at the time, the same poor officiating came back to bite them.

These errors could have been ruled out with VAR. It's something that is resisted by many supporters in the EFL, but, with more and more costly decisions, the pressure to potentially introduce it will grow.