Brighton held 0-0 by Championship side West Brom at the Amex Stadium
Saturday 26 January 2019 18:56, UK
Chris Hughton was baffled that the Video Assistant Referee was not consulted after Brighton were denied a penalty during the FA Cup fourth-round stalemate with West Brom.
Seagulls boss Hughton felt striker Jurgen Locadia was fouled inside the box by Baggies defender Kyle Bartley as he followed up Dale Stephens' second-half shot against the left post.
VAR was available for the 0-0 draw at the Amex Stadium but referee Lee Mason opted not to use the technology for the 58th-minute incident.
"On a day where we were picked as a VAR game and incidents that should be picked out, we saw it on the side and even if the referee hasn't seen it, Locadia has gone down in the box," said Hughton.
"The fact that he's gone down in the box, then that's one that should be picked up. We've seen it again, it looks like a penalty."
Brighton had 24 attempts on goal on Saturday but were unable to break down their dogged Sky Bet Championship opponents as they were forced to settle for a replay at The Hawthorns.
Stephens' attempt, which was touched on to the upright by Baggies goalkeeper Jonathan Bond, was as close as they came, while defender Tosin Adarabioyo later headed against the crossbar for the visitors.
Hughton, who is prioritising Premier League survival and admitted a rematch next month is not ideal, had no complaints about the result after making six changes to his starting XI.
"On the balance of play, I felt we were the better side. But we couldn't find that way [through]," he added.
"We didn't do enough to win the game, we didn't test the goalkeeper enough to win the game.
"Credit to West Brom, they probably feel they deserved to get the result they did."
