Nottingham Forest were left seething after seeing what looked like a legitimate Neco Williams goal chalked off during a stalemate against Tottenham Hotspur at the City Ground, and former top referee Keith Hackett has now waded into the row with a verdict that only deepens the confusion.
The flashpoint came in the second half when Morgan Gibbs-White’s shot looked destined for an empty net. Sandro Tonali tried to hack the ball clear but got it all wrong, and Williams pounced to force it home from close range. The City Ground erupted, only for VAR to step in and send referee Craig Pawson to the pitchside screen. After reviewing it, Pawson decided the ball had brushed Williams’ hand just before crossing the line and chalked the goal off, with the Premier League’s Match Centre confirming a handball call and awarding Spurs a free-kick.
Hackett’s first reaction backed the officials fully, insisting the handball law leaves no room for interpretation — a goal cannot stand if the ball comes off a player’s arm, whether by accident or design, on its way in. Based on that reading, he felt Pawson and his VAR team had got it spot on, especially given the league’s own confirmation that Williams’ hand was involved.
Then he saw a different camera angle — and changed his tune. Hackett admitted he was taken aback that VAR had got involved at all, saying the contact looked far from certain from this replay and arguing that video officials are only supposed to step in for clear and obvious mistakes, which this plainly wasn’t.
Tonali, meanwhile, escaped fairly lightly given his part in creating the mess. His botched clearance handed Williams the chance in the first place, and only the handball ruling saved the Italian from being remembered for a costly blunder. As it stands, Spurs walked away with a goalless draw and their first point of the campaign — despite not managing a single shot on target all game.
Williams was livid afterward, insisting he’d guided the ball with his head between his arms rather than using his hand, and that the incident simply didn’t clear the bar VAR is meant to apply. With Hackett himself now conceding the footage was inconclusive, the argument over whether this intervention was justified looks set to run for a while yet. Spurs will feel fortunate; Forest will feel robbed of what could have been their first league win of the season.
