PUNDITS have expressed their surprise the decision to award Brentford a penalty against Cherries was not upheld.

With the game locked at 0-0 at Vitality Stadium, Ivan Toney went down under a challenge from Illia Zabarnyi and on-field referee Matt Donohue pointed to the spot.

But, after consultation with video assistant referee Chris Kavanagh, the decision was overturned.

Brentford went on to win the game 2-1.

In his role as pundit on BBC’s Match of the Day, the Premier League’s all-time top goalscorer Alan Shearer said: “I was surprised.

“The ref has given a penalty here and I’m not convinced at all that was enough (to overturn).

“That’s what you’re taught to do, is put your leg across to protect the ball, so I was really surprised that they turned that around.”

Ex-Manchester City defender Micah Richards agreed with Shearer’s assessment, and also discussed the two goals Dominic Solanke had ruled out.

In the first half, Solanke twice found the net, the first disallowed for a handball by Antoine Semenyo in the build-up and the second for a foul by Solanke himself.

Richards said: “Semenyo goes through, he passes to Solanke, who goes and scores.

“But you can see, clearly he handballs it.

“Just the way he moves his hand towards it. I think that is the right decision.”

On the second disallowed goal, Richards added: “It’s a soft foul, but the referee blows, so VAR can’t intervene anyway.

“I can understand why he’s angry, but the referee has blown.”

Host Gary Lineker replied: “He could’ve waited two seconds.”

Cherries head coach Andoni Iraola was left “very angry” by referee Donohue’s performance, while Bees boss Thomas Frank felt the 35-year-old “got the key decisions right” on his Premier League debut.