Chris Hughton says he was baffled over why VAR was not used after Brighton were denied a penalty in the 0-0 draw with West Brom.
Seagulls boss Hughton felt striker Jurgen Locadia was fouled inside the box by Baggies defender Kyle Bartley as he followed up Dale Stephens’ second-half shot against the left post.
VAR was available for the FA Cup clash at the Amex Stadium but referee Lee Mason opted not to use the technology for the 58th-minute incident.
“On a day where we were picked as a VAR game and incidents that should be picked out, we saw it on the side and even if the referee hasn’t seen it, Locadia has gone down in the box,” said Hughton.
“The fact that he’s gone down in the box, then that’s one that should be picked up. We’ve seen it again, it looks like a penalty.”
Hughton, who is prioritising Premier League survival and admitted a rematch next month is not ideal, had no complaints about the result after making six changes to his starting XI.
“On the balance of play, I felt we were the better side. But we couldn’t find that way (through),” added Hughton. “We didn’t do enough to win the game, we didn’t test the goalkeeper enough to win the game. “Credit to West Brom, they probably feel they deserved to get the result they did.”
