Mario Lemina has revealed what the Wolves players were told on-field when a controversial penalty was awarded for Luton Town on Saturday.
Wanderers played out a 1-1 draw with the Hatters, in what was a disappointing performance and result.
Wolves struggled throughout, and life was made harder following a red card for Jean-Ricner Bellegarde.
Pedro Neto gave Wolves hope of three points after he scored a brilliant goal in the second-half.
But Wolves were then stung by a very controversial decision.
Luton’s Issa Kabore attempted a cross into the box for the hosts, but the ball hit the arm of Joao Gomes.
But replays showed the ball hit Gomes’ leg first and ricocheted against his outstretched arm.
Gary O’Neil branded the decision ‘terrible‘ after the game.
And other high profile names in football – such as Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Danny Murphy – have slammed the decision.
And now, Lemina has shared what referee Josh Smith said to him and the Wolves players as they remonstrated…
Mario Lemina says referee Josh Smith simply told the Wolves players to go away
There were instant protestations from the Wolves players when Smith gave the penalty.
Some who were close to the incident had seen immediately that the ball had hit Gomes’ leg first.
Lemina says that the Wolves players attempted to converse with Smith. But he was having none of it.
“The ball clearly touched the leg before the hand and the rules are the rules,” he said (via Express & Star).
“For me they need to check and they have to be honest about these rules because we don’t really understand the rules.
“Every time it changed and we don’t really understand. He didn’t explain anything. He didn’t want to talk to us. He just said ‘go away, it’s a clear penalty’.”
Referees are too protected
Most people would agree that referees receiving abuse is absolutely unacceptable.
However, players now cannot even speak to referees about contentious decisions. This can only be a bad thing.
It is ultimately probably going to mean more players are needlessly booked. We have already seen this in several games in the Premier League. And in some games, players will be sent off.
It is embarrassing that Smith told Lemina and the Wolves players that it was a clear penalty given how fast it happened. There is surely no way he could have been sure.
And it’s even more embarrassing that VAR upheld his decision.