Bournemouth boss Gary O’Neil demands an APOLOGY from the referee after Ivan Toney penalty

Bournemouth boss Gary O’Neil raged at a penalty decision awarded to Brentford on Saturday evening that kickstarted his side’s latest defeat labelling it ‘scandalous’. 

Ivan Toney was hauled down inside the box by Marcos Senesi, with Jared Gillet immediately pointing to the spot – with Toney duly dispatching the effort from 12 yards. 

Mathias Jensen made it 2-0 in the second half to put the game beyond the visitors.  

Ivan Toney was brought down by Marcos Senesi with Brentford awarded a spot-kick as a result 

There appeared to be little debate about the legitimacy of the spot kick being awarded, but O’Neil after the game pointed to Toney having a grab of the defender’s arm as being reason for it to be overturned by the video assistant referee. 

‘Ivan Toney has managed to lock Marcos’ arm under him and pulled him down,’ he said. ‘In this day and age with VAR it’s scandalous. I’ve spoken to the referee and told him I expect an apology.

‘When I watched it I thought, “They’re definitely overturning that”. I thought it was a terrible decision.

Bournemouth manager Gary O’Neil claimed the penalty award was a ‘scandalous decision’

‘We had the same referee in the play-off semi-final here two years ago and I thought he was equally as bad this evening as he was then. I thought it was a strange game to give him.

‘But he should have been helped by VAR. Live I can see how it was given, but how we can’t then come to the right decision is scandalous.’ 

The Cherries sit just a point outside the drop zone after a run of four consecutive defeats in the Premier League since it returned from its World Cup hiatus. 

They have fellow strugglers Nottingham Forest up next in a game that could come to define both clubs’ season.

Ivan Toney scored from the penalty spot on his return from injury for Brentford to leave Bournemouth’s position ever more perilous

However, O’Neil rejected any discussion of Bournemouth’s perilous position, instead choosing to praise his side for the way they played. 

‘I’d rather talk about the players and performance, they worked their socks off to the end. I didn’t think there was much in the game against a good side.

‘What I saw today is they are still fully committed. I thought they were ready to go this evening and they competed with Brentford,’ he added. ‘I thought they were unfortunate to come away with nothing.’