Football Insider

Ex-FIFA ref rejects VAR verdict after Dewsbury-Hall incident against Brighton

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Credit: Imago

Chris Smith

Sun 24 August 2025 18:05, UK



VAR were wrong to uphold Stuart Atwell’s decision to award Brighton a penalty for a handball by Everton’s Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall on Sunday.



That’s the view of former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee Keith Hackett, who analysed the incident exclusively for Football Insider.

Everton won 2-0 in their first-ever game at Hill Dickinson Stadium, with summer signing Jack Grealish providing the assists for Iliman Ndiaye and James Garner’s goals.



However, it wasn’t all smooth for the Toffees, who gifted Brighton several first-half chances with defensive lapses, while Dewsbury-Hall was punished for blocking a Yankuba Minteh effort with his arm in the 75th minute.

This article contains exclusive comments from ex-PGMOL chief, FIFA official and former professional referee Keith Hackett.

Everton looked to be cruising toward a historic win before Atwell pointed to the spot with just 15 minutes to go, offering the visitors a glimmer of hope.



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Dewsbury-Hall, his teammates and supporters in the shiny new stands protested vigorously against the award of the spot-kick, arguing that the midfielder was too close to Minteh’s powerful effort to get his arms out of the way.

VAR upheld the decision, but thankfully, Jordan Pickford once again showed off his spot-kick expertise to deny Danny Welbeck and preserve Everton‘s clean sheet.

However, according to Hackett, the England goalkeeper should never have had to go through the trouble.



“When considering a handball offence, the referee must consider the distance the ball has travelled,” Hackett told Football Insider.



“The Everton player is turning his body, and his body is in a natural position.

The ball strikes but for me, it’s no penalty.”

Football Insider verdict

Handball remains one of the murkiest sections of the rulebook, and Everton have already been caught out by it twice this season — with James Tarkowski taking the fall in a 1-0 defeat to Leeds on matchday one.

On this occasion, Dewsbury-Hall was the unlucky culprit, but that moment absolutely doesn’t take away from what was a superb home debut from the midfielder.

Dewsbury-Hall — who signed from Chelsea this summer — pulled the strings in midfield for David Moyes, completing all but four of his 37 passes and creating three chances (including one big chance, FotMob) and causing havoc with his deliveries into the box.

Stats vs BrightonKiernan Dewsbury-HallMinutes played90Passes completed33/37Chances created3Big chances created1Successful dribbles1/1Passes into final third8Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s stats vs Brighton

The former Leicester man played eight passes into the final third and won three fouls, with Brighton’s midfield more often than not having no idea how to deal with him.

Dewsbury-Hall was just as effective when asked to defend, making two interceptions, two recoveries and one clearance.