Dean: Drop-ball decision a 'monumental error' from Tierney


Former Premier League referee Mike Dean says Paul Tierney made a "monumental error" in the build-up to Darwin Nunez's 99th-minute winner for Liverpool against Nottingham Forest which sparked chaotic scenes at the City Ground.

Forest were hugely frustrated that the ball had been returned to Liverpool shortly before the decisive goal went in, following a head injury to Ibrahima Konate with the home team in possession.

It later emerged that referee Tierney should have given the ball back to Forest minutes before Liverpool's dramatic winner, a decision Sky Sports pundit Dean has called a "monumental error" and a "big mistake".

"Unfortunately, it is a mistake and it's a bad one, because it leads eventually to a goal," said Dean, speaking on Sky Sports News.

"The law states that whoever has the ball last when play is stopped, the ball is returned to them. Callum Hudson-Odoi clearly had the ball, and the ball should have been given back to Nottingham Forest. 

"There has been a big fallout and rightly so, it's a big error by the match referee. It's something they are going to have to live and learn from - it's a mistake, we all know it's a mistake.

"It is right [that we focus attention on it] because the incident is wrong in law. It's a monumental error. The drop ball law is there for a reason."

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