Huddersfield Town vs Blackpool. Sky Bet Championship.
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Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship game between Huddersfield and Blackpool as Theo Corbeanu's goal helped the Seasiders to victory in a game where Yuta Nakayama was controversially denied equaliser by a technology failure; EFL says matter is a "great concern"
Monday 5 September 2022 12:56, UK
The EFL has said it is "incredibly frustrated" after a ball-tracking technology failure denied Yuta Nakayama Huddersfield an equaliser in Sunday's loss to Blackpool.
Canada international Theo Corbeanu's third goal in four games earned Blackpool a 1-0 Championship win, but the game's biggest talking point saw Nakayama denied what looked a certain goal just past the hour-mark.
The Japan international appeared to prod the ball over the Blackpool goal-line after his initial header from Sorba Thomas' corner had been brilliantly repelled by Daniel Grimshaw.
But Grimshaw grabbed the ball and played on and, with the technology appearing to have malfunctioned, Nakayama had to quickly curtail his celebrations as the action switched upfield.
The EFL said the technology failure overshadowed the weekend's action, describing it as "a matter of great concern".
"The EFL is incredibly frustrated that a technology failure at Huddersfield Town and Blackpool has overshadowed a fantastic weekend of action on the pitch," read a statement.
"We have now received an initial assessment from Hawk-Eye, the providers of the Goal Line Technology service in the Championship, that during a second-half incident with Huddersfield attacking, the match officials did not receive a signal to their watch or earpiece as, due to multiple factors, the ball was no longer being tracked following it entering the Blackpool goal area.
"Separately, PGMOL have confirmed officials were unsighted due to obstruction by players and therefore unable to award a goal.
"Whilst the system was tested and functional prior to the start of the game, further information is expected from both Hawk-Eye and PGMOL following a full review of the incident.
"Technology is there to support the decision-making processes of match officials in the Championship and it failing in such a manner on Sunday is a matter of great concern.
"For clarity, the referee's decision is final and the match result stands."
Moments after Nakayama's effort, Ian Poveda had an on-target strike diverted away from goal by Ollie Turton, before Huddersfield went back on the attack with Jon Russell curling an effort wide from 20 yards after Corbeanu had given the ball away.
But the Terriers failed to stage a grandstand finish in front of a frustrated home crowd with substitute Jordan Rhodes heading his team's final opportunity well off target.
Corbeanu's first-half effort consigned the hosts to a sixth defeat in eight games in all competitions, with Danny Schofield's team having also failed to keep a clean sheet in any of those contests.
Huddersfield's Danny Schofield: "I've seen the incident a number of times from a number of different angles and it's a tough one to take because we feel it was a goal that was not awarded. When I went to speak to him at the end. I was very emotional and he was pointing at his watch, because he was going off goal-line technology, so it's difficult to pin the blame on the ref because it was down to the technology and I'm not sure if he can overrule that. It would certainly take a brave man to do so.
"We've not had the best start to the season and it would have given us at least another point on the board, so it was a big moment and we feel like we have been let down. We're fighting for points and we need these things to be right."
Blackpool's Michael Appleton: "I've not looked back at it and I've done that purposely, but I've been told it was potentially over the line and that's not great from their point of view. I've been in the game a hell of a long time, though, and I know these types of things can happen. They have happened against me before and I know the club were on the receiving end of one last season against QPR.
"We changed our shape, so that was something new for the players because I thought that it could help us on the transition and turnover and it certainly did for - as much as we were under a bit of pressure in the second half - I never felt uncomfortable if I'm being honest.
"We knew that we would have to defend crosses, but defending them with three centre halves lining up on our six-yard box, we were quite comfortable with that and the threat we then had with Corbeanu, (Ian) Poveda and (Jerry) Yates was really pleasing."
