Linesman pays for Fulham goal-line error
Ian Gosling, the linesman who failed to give Fulham's equaliser in their 2-1 defeat against Middlesbrough on Saturday, has been withdrawn from this weekend's Premiership rota.
David Healy appeared to have scored in the dying moments but stand-in referee Andy D'Urso and his assistant Gosling failed to spot his shot had clearly been carried over the line by goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.
Referee's chief Keith Hackett confirmed Gosling's withdrawal at noon today.
Healy called for goal-line technology to help refs, saying: "It has been successfully introduced in rugby so I don't see any reason why we shouldn't have it.
"They say it will slow the game down a touch but it doesn't do that in rugby.
"Everybody knows the difficult jobs faced by linesman and referees these days. But I'm very disappointed about what happened, the gaffer is disappointed and I'm sure the fans were disappointed when they saw the evidence that the ball was clearly over the line."
An FA spokesman confirmed that trials with the Hawk-Eye technology already used in tennis were on-going - they are currently conducting an experiment at Reading's Madejski Stadium - but that was no consolation for Fulham manager Lawrie Sanchez.
He said: "The big decisions are what referees are judged on."
