West Brom star Aune Heggebo left fans stunned as he scored with his hand on the opening day – with officials missing the offence.
The Baggies were well below par in their 2-1 victory over Norwich at Carrow Road on Saturday afternoon, but managed to claim victory following strikes from Heggebo and new signing Jimmy-Jay Morgan.
It was a far from routine win for James Morrison‘s side, and the main takeaway from the game was Heggebo’s opening goal, which clearly came off his arm.
The Norway forward raced in to tap home Morgan’s cross, but, as he raised his leg to try and poke it in, he raised his arms too.
The ball struck his left arm and fell into the net, with Norwich players protesting to referee Tim Robinson – who missed the incident.
Heggebo wheeled away in celebration, with none of the officials noticing he had in fact committed an offence to score.
West Brom star Aune Heggebo stunned fans with a handball goal on the opening day of the Championship season
‘It was clearly with the arm that the player scores – we could see that from where we were watching, 50 yards away,’ Norwich manager Philippe Clement said after the game. ‘It was the decisive moment in the game and should have been spotted.
‘There are four officials and one of them should have seen it. Maybe the referee didn’t have the best view – but the linesman on our side needs to see that. Missing game-changing moments like this shouldn’t happen – it has cost us at least two, maybe three points.’
Morgan, who joined for £4million from Chelsea this summer, added a second goal in the 87th minute, with Mathias Kvistgaarden’s 90th minute goal proving to be nothing but a consolation.
Fans on social media were left stunned by the incident, with one writing: ‘Cracking header from Heggebo tbf.’
Another wrote: ‘You could see it on Aune Heggebo after the goal that he had cheated, and it’s just unbelievable that neither the referee nor linesman sees this.
‘I’ll take one of these in every single match this season over VAR anyway.’
