"I couldn't believe what the referee had done," said Howe

Eddie Howe speaks out on the penalty that never was.

Eddie Howe was clear in his own mind that Bournemouth had been hard done by over Adam Smith's non-awarded penalty shout against Southampton. It was one talking point of a fairly evenly contested game, but on such decisions games can fall one side or the other.

The Cherries boss was not holding back in his comments. He said "It was a clear penalty. I was adamant, I saw it at the time and I couldn't believe what the referee had done." Eddie was clear that Adam Smith got to the ball first and the defender was committed to making the challenge  and that Smith had no choice but to go down. "All the referee can do is look at it and learn from it, that's all I can ask," said Howe.

It was not only the fact that Bournemouth did not get a penalty but the loss of Adam Smith to a suspension now for his fifth yellow card. To me it seemed that Adam was stretching for control and did get a touch on the ball before the challenge came in on him and the speed of the event didn't really give Smith any option but to fall. It is whether Boufal got a clear challenge on the ball or not, but I don't think Jonathan Moss looked at that well enough and looked more at whether Adam Smith was trying to avoid the challenge to gain an advantage.

Adam Smith will miss Bournemouth's game at Crystal Palace next weekend

He says John Moss has apologised for booking him

Should referees come out to explain their decisions to the fans? 🤔 #afcb #SaintsFC pic.twitter.com/Vsn68jq25x

— BBC Solent Sport (@solentsport) December 3, 2017

There are times when referees need help of course and at the end of the day we all want the correct calls made. Sadly, it could be many years yet before we see a change in this area of the game and while the wrong decisions are annoying and costly it is something that all the teams fall victims of at some point in the season. For Adam Smith it's personally a difficult decision to deal with as he will feel cheated about not getting the penalty and then cheated again at getting carded and suspended.

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Unfortunately, wrong decisions are part of the game. AFCB will move on and Adam Smith will hopefully not change his mind to go for goal in the box next time he gets a chance as playing positively is all you can do in such situations, even if referees may decide that you are trying to cheat your way to a penalty.

At least the referee was big enough at the end of the game to apologise to Adam Smith for his mistake.