A former referee says Danny Welbeck was ONE CENTIMETRE from seeing his goal at Fulham ruled onside.
Dermot Gallagher made the revelation during Sky Sports’ Ref Watch programme as the decision was put under the spotlight.
Welbeck thought he had restored Albion’s lead soon after they conceded an equaliser.
But, after celebration had died down, video assistant Tony Harrington eventually ruled the Albion striker was offside.
A Premier League image highlighted part of Welbeck’s upper arm when illustrating the offside decision.
Fulham went on to grab an injury-time winner through Harry Wilson.
Albion’s frustration and anger followed their draw with Bournemouth, when they felt Bart Verbruggen was harshly penalised.
Gallagher said: “It was just outside the tolerance.
“I asked on Saturday how far was it out and he was 6cm offside. So the 5cm (is) built in.
“You wanted a tolerance level, you have got 5cm and he was just outside.
“There are winners and losers and unfortunately for Danny he was a loser on that day.
“The tolerance level is built into the system and, unfortunately for Danny, he was just outside it.”
The programme did not focus on what part of Welbeck was deemed offside.
But ex-pro Jay Bothroyd queried the graphic and the precise nature of the offside decision.
He said: “I need to see the source of when the ball was played.
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“I need to see when the pass is actually leaving the foot.
“There is human error. In the VAR room they have press a button of what they deem the ball leaving the foot of a player
“We are always going to question it.
“I am certainly going to question it.
“We live in an era now where they question everything.”
