Former referee Mark Halsey says Spurs were denied 'perfectly good goal' by VAR

Erik Lamela's strike was disallowed by referee Paul Tierney, after a delay of about two minutes. Credit: PA

Former Premier League referee Mark Halsey believes mistakes were made when Tottenham's "perfectly good goal" against Rochdale was ruled out by the Video Assistant Referee during the FA Cup.

Erik Lamela's strike was disallowed by referee Paul Tierney, after a delay of about two minutes, for a minor infringement by Fernando Llorente.

There were other controversies in the snowy FA Cup tie on Wednesday night, including Son Heung-min's penalty being ruled out after pausing in his run-up.

When asked about Lamela's goal, Halsey told BBC Five Live: "For me it wasn't a clear and obvious error. I thought it was a perfectly good goal. I don't know why it was referred (to the VAR) in the first place."

Halsey said he could not understand why the referee did not go and look at the monitor on the touchline.

He also criticised Tierney for ruling out the Tottenham penalty, saying he should have used his experience and had the spot-kick retaken for encroachment.

"He could have handled it better," Halsey added.

Tierney had overturned a decision to award a free-kick for Matt Done's foul on Kieran Trippier. VAR showed the offence continued into the box and after several minutes of deliberation, Tierney changed his decision and awarded a penalty.

Son stepped up to take the spot-kick and coolly sent Josh Lillis the wrong way. However, after the South Korean stuttered in his run-up, a tactic which has been outlawed, Tierney - without the help of VAR - awarded Dale an indirect free-kick and booked Son.