Shambolic refereeing without VAR fails to derail Newcastle against 10-man Villa
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Tom Jeffreys Sat, 14 February 2026 at 8:01 pm UTC·26 min read Newcastle United overcame a shambolic performance from referee Chris Kavanagh and his assistants to knock Aston Villa out of the FA Cup. They had two long-range strikes from Sandro Tonali to thank for that, but this was a farcical game caused by the ineptitude of the decision making.Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Had Newcastle lost it would have been a travesty of justice. In fact, if anyone was making the case in defence of VAR, this would be all you needed to show the jury. Newcastle were on the receiving end of three terrible decisions that should have ruled out Aston Villa’s goal for a clear offside against the...