Scudamore wants help for officials

ENGLISH Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore has renewed his call for goal-line technology to be introduced into football.

The latest controversy on the subject was sparked when Juan Mata’s goal for Chelsea against Tottenham in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final was awarded despite appearing to be stopped well short of the line. And Scudamore said: “I hope to see some goal-line technology, or a wider use of technology, to help officials because it’s football’s toughest job. They do a great job but there’s things we must be able to help them with and we should be doing that.”

The Mata incident united both teams in condemnation of referee Martin Atkinson’s decision, with Spurs’ Scott Parker saying: “It’s not even a debate, is it, really? I think it’s clearly obvious. It’s not even one we can sit here and say, ‘Did it or didn’t it?’. It was nowhere near the line.”

Striker Emmanuel Adebayor added: “They have to make something happen because it’s killing the league.”