Brentford took a three-goal lead against Burnley and came close to winning 4-3 with Mikkel Damsgaard’s 93rd-minute winner, but it was far from the end of the drama at Turf Moor.
Burnley, who had pulled back from 3-0 down before Damsgaard’s late attack, thought they had equalized again when Ashley Barnes fired home eight minutes into stoppage time, but a four-minute VAR check revealed Barnes had controlled the ball with his hands, dealing a blow to the Clarets’ hopes of survival.
Sky Sports News’ Mike Dean and Chris Boyd felt the video replay was inconclusive and the goal should have stood, but VAR’s Paul Tierney felt confident enough to overrule the goal without sending referee Samuel Ballot to the pitchside monitor.
Burnley head coach Scott Parker added in the post-match press conference: “I don’t want to say too much because I might be wrong, but it looks very tough.”
Tierney’s decision would have been had Brentford held an unassailable 3-0 lead as early as the 34th minute when Kevin Shade fired home to add another point with a header beyond Damsgaard, and then added a second goal through Igor Thiago’s break in front of an increasingly restless home support.
They would have been booed at half-time if it hadn’t been for a lucky incident when Michael Kayode miskicked a cross just before half-time, hitting his back foot and deflecting it into his own goal.
Keiode was even more unfortunate for his involvement two minutes after the interval when Burnley deflected Jadon Anthony’s shot and Hakon Valdimarsson’s wrong foot, giving the Clarets hope of a comeback.
Burnley furious at decision to disallow Ashley Barnes’ 98th-minute equalizer
They got a goal with an hour left on the clock when Jeanne Fleming brought Turf Moor to their feet with a powerful header from Hannibal Maibri’s cross, but they then had to go even further.
Burnley momentarily thought they had achieved the ultimate comeback from another Fleming finish 11 minutes before the match, when VAR rightly ruled that Anthony had been offside in the build-up.
In a game filled with resilience in attack but poor defence, Brentford were prevented from collapsing by Damsgaard’s goal in second half stoppage time. Amid wild celebrations in front of their traveling cheering squad, they believed they had finally done enough to secure victory.
Barnes then thought he had had the last laugh with his first Premier League goal of the season eight minutes into stoppage time, but Tierney had other ideas for a final twist in what proved to be the best game of the season in the entire Premier League with a controversial reversal.
Premier League classic timeline
8 minutes: Damsgaard heads the Bees forward. 25 minutes: Thiago leads by two. 34 minutes: Schade’s goal puts the visitors 3-0 up. 45+3 minutes: Kayode’s own goal gives Burnley hope before half-time. 47 minutes: Kayode’s deflected shot makes it 3-2 just 78 seconds after the restart. 60 mins: Fleming completes Burnley’s comeback and takes the lead 3-379 mins: Fleming scores again but the goal is disallowed by VAR for offside after a 3-minute check 90+3 mins: Damsgaard regains Brentford’s lead 90+8 mins: Burnley equalizer ruled out by VAR for handball after a 4-minute check that required two different angles to confirm the decision
Parker proud but disillusioned by VAR call
Burnley head coach Scott Parker said:
“We can be critical and we had a lot of work to do. We often say we’re proud after a win, but I’m very proud of what this group went through today. In the adversity we faced, we gave ourselves a mountain to climb as big as Mount Everest.”
“If there’s a game to look back on when this season ends and the curtain comes down, if there’s a standard game to look back on, it’ll be this one, a close game.
“Offside is absolutely minimal and there’s some handball that I’ve never seen, but if that’s the law, that’s the way the game is played.
“We want perfection in every element of the game, whether it’s the pictures we take of ourselves or whatever it is, we all want perfection, and that’s the way it is.
“I am in a vulnerable position because we have the technology and we can always rely on it.”
Andrews: We couldn’t deal with Burnley’s response
Brentford head coach Keith Andrews told Sky Sports:
“Emotions are still running high. We played really well in the first half, played the game with respect and put ourselves in a really good position.
“The goal before half-time changed things a little bit. They started the second half very well and made some changes. It was up to us to react to that and we didn’t.
“The overall feeling is one of pride in achieving a result in such intense and chaotic conditions. Would I have accepted this result before the game? Of course I would have.”
