Brentford and Liverpool players had a longer than expected wait to resume play at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday night following a referee injury.

Simon Hooper, the match official at kick-off, swapped places with fourth official Tim Robinson—not something you see every day in the Premier League. The halftime break is usually 15 minutes, but the wait for the restart went over as Robinson and Hooper had to get themselves prepared.

The original referee on the night had been booed off the pitch to end the first half. A minimum of three minutes were added on, but the half ended with nearly five additional minutes giving Milos Kerkez ample time to cut Liverpool’s deficit in half.

Some fans in the ground appeared unaware of the change despite the delay and booed Robinson as he came out.

Robinson Involved in Major Decision Shortly After Replacing Hooper

Robinson was called into action around 15 minutes into the second half as VAR reviewed a foul on the edge of the Liverpool box. Dango Ouattara was fouled by Virgil van Dijk on the edge of the box and initially was awarded a free kick. Though, Stockley Park directed him to halt play as the moment was scrutinised even further.

After review, the foul was deemed on the line and in turn a penalty for the hosts. Igor Thiago made no mistake from the spot to beat Giorgi Mamardashvili to restore the two goal lead.

Liverpool had snapped their four-game losing streak coming into the game with an emphatic result against Eintracht Frankfurt midweek. Though, they found themselves down two goals in the first half through Ouattara and Kevin Schade.

Despite Kerkez’s late first half strike, the penalty decision undermined the work done by the Hungarian before the interval.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Why Brentford vs. Liverpool Was Delayed in the Second Half.

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