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12th Feb 2017

Fantasy football managers lose their sh*t after West Brom goal controversy

It's an outrage!

Tom Victor

There was late drama at the London Stadium yesterday as Jonny Evans’ stoppage-time header earned West Bromwich Albion a point at West Ham. Well, at least that’s what most people thought happened.

Hammers manager Slaven Bilić was furious, seemingly thinking the home side should have been given a throw-in in the build-up to the equaliser, but the real controversy came later.

Evans’ goal was not Evans’ goal, as it turned out – instead, it was ruled that the Northern Ireland defender’s header had taken a touch off compatriot Gareth McAuley before crossing the line.

The equaliser came deep into stoppage time (Photo by Ian Walton/Getty Images)

The Premier League awarded the goal to McAuley, so the official fantasy league felt it had no choice but to do the same.

This was bad news for a few fans – most notably (a) those who didn’t have McAuley in their team while their rivals did, (b) those who had Evans, whose goal was downgraded to an assist and (c) those who had Chris Brunt, who now gets no assist points.

And there’s nothing like doubt over the identity of a goalscorer to get fantasy football managers really riled up.

https://twitter.com/Benedict2807/status/830477015237091329

And, as if you needed telling, it didn’t take long for conspiracy theories to begin popping up.

https://twitter.com/BlockNinety8/status/830478844138233856

Still, at least a few were able to laugh about it.

https://twitter.com/You_Da_Mane/status/830481579688464384

https://twitter.com/Marcinskk/status/830485466059243520

Catch up with this week’s episode of 888sport Football Friday Live