Originally Posted by
Loramski
Good angle that (great view of Colwill's goal too). I felt at the time that Sykes had taken a touch before looking to clear it, slightly miscontrolled it, realised the keeper was coming and left him to it. I still do. I spent a while wondering when a touch becomes a pass but now I know the ball has to be deliberately passed to the keeper to make it a back pass then I'm pretty sure the ref got it right.
You'd have to be very confident to try and pass a ball towards your own goal from that distance and, surely, even Ederson wouldn't want a ball coming towards him while he's on his goal line in that situation so I don't see why Sykes would've even thought about doing that.
For all that angle is good, the extended highlights show a couple of things that it misses. Firstly, as Tanner is about to cross, Sykes quickly checks over his shoulder to see where Grant is. This makes him realise he's got time to take a touch before clearing it when the ball comes in. Secondly, Grant makes no appeal whatsoever, just looks disappointed as though he realises he should've been right on Sykes' shoulder to punish the slight miscontrol. Both Grant and the keeper seemed sure it wasn't a backpass and they were the two closest. Only Sykes knows for sure.