Watford assistant head coach Zigor Aranalde said a “shocking” and “embarrassing” failure to award a free-kick on Vivaldo Semedo in the build-up to a late equaliser denied the Hornets all three points in their 2-2 draw at Wrexham.
Semedo appeared to be hauled to the ground shortly after the match moved into stoppage time, yet no foul was given. Just a minute later, Ollie Rathbone struck home to level the scores.
Watford had controlled the second half with a 2-1 lead after first-half goals from Mamadou Doumbia and Othmane Maamma, but were ultimately forced to settle for a point. Head coach Javi Gracia was sent off for his protests, with Aranalde addressing the media in his place and confirming the dismissal stemmed from complaints over that incident.
“Everyone could see it was a free-kick that the referee didn’t give before their second goal,” Aranalde said. “From our position it was a blatant foul, and Javi reacted for a couple of minutes before the referee decided to send him off.
“It’s one of the clearest decisions I’ve seen this season and neither the assistant nor the referee gave anything. For me it’s a big error, and they’re fortunate there’s no VAR because that decision would definitely have been overturned.
“It’s embarrassing. He’s grabbing and pulling him — it’s a shocking call and it’s the difference between the two teams today. We all make mistakes, but that was clearly a mistake from the referee.”
Although there was a brief gap between the challenge on Semedo and Rathbone’s strike finding the corner, Aranalde was unwilling to point the finger at his players.
“You can always say there’s something you could do to stop it,” he added. “There were a lot of bodies in front of the shot, but it went in, so there’s nothing more to say. That’s a very difficult one to prevent.”