Why Newcastle United were awarded controversial penalty vs Bournemouth as Fabian Schar 'offside' explained

Newcastle were awarded a controversial penalty against Bournemouth on Saturday and PGMOL referee chief Howard Webb has cleared things up.

Anthony Gordon was handed the chance to make it 1-1 just before the hour mark at St James' Park, with Matt smith adjudged to have fouled Fabian Schar inside the box after a lengthy VAR check. Swiss international Schar looked to have been in an offside position when his shirt was pulled and the away side were massively aggrieved at the decision.

Gordon scored from the spot to make it 1-1 on the hour nark, following Dominic Solanke's opener. Antoine Semenyo looked to have won it for the Cherries until substitute Matt Ritchie nicked a point for Newcastle in the 92nd minute. Debate after the game centred around the controversial penalty decision and Webb has cleared up the ruling behind it.

"It's an unusual situation and somewhat complex... the law specifically allocates some wording around this type of situation,” Webb told 'Match Officials Mic'd Up on Sky Sports. “For an offside offence to be committed, the player in an offside position has to challenge for the ball or play the ball - just being in an offside position itself is not necessarily an offence.

"So the law stipulates that a player who is in an offside position who is moving towards the ball with the intention of playing the ball at some point is then fouled by an opponent - prior to attempting to play the ball - it's the foul that gets penalised because that occurred before the action by the attacker that would commit the offside offence.

"And that is the exact situation we saw here. When the free-kick is taken, Schar is in an offside position, there's no doubt about that. He then starts moving towards goal and we see Adam Smith pull his shirt. It's a sustained holding offence that starts outside and continues inside.

"In normal circumstances, we wouldn't flag as soon as the free-kick comes in. The assistant referee waits to see where the ball goes - another Newcastle player might come in from an onside position and head the ball towards goal. Does Schar get involved with the play by challenging for the ball when it's in that dropping zone? He doesn't have a chance to do any of those things because he's dragged down before he gets there."