Lee Mason made a mistake, but he is not the only one to blame for Brighton and Hove Albion's defeat to West Bromwich Albion - opinion

This week, ‘fun’ and games in the Midlands, as Brighton lost the ‘Battle of the Albion’s’ in one of the most bizarre matches so far in this unprecedented season.

There’s no doubt referee Lee Mason made a huge mistake in the first half by eventually disallowing Lewis Dunk’s ‘equaliser’ despite clearly blowing his whistle for the kick to be taken.

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Whilst it’s extremely frustrating maybe the all-out witchhunt isn’t really fair. In mitigation if we are going to criticise Mason for his error, then let’s not forget the respective penalty missesfrom Pascal Gross and Danny Welbeck, the missed chances from Neil Maupay and Aaron Connolly in each half, or the Albion defending for the West Brom goal?

Basically, anyone waiting for Mason to admit his error will have a long wait, it’s not going to happen, as it could leave the EPL up for an unprecedented potential court case brought by Albion owner Tony Bloom if the club are relegated by a point.

I know it has never happened before but with so much TV and EPL income at stake there’s always a first time for everything.

That’s said VAR really threw Mason under the bus on Saturday, clearly in a difficult situation on the pitch. The remote truck was detached from events and in the seemingly five minutes it took to sort out (although there was only four mins added time?) they should have told him to go with the goal on account of the whistle issue and saved him from the resulting abuse and criticism.

When crowds return, I doubt we will be seeing Mr Mason officiating at the Amex for a very long time. But what’s done is done, thankfully the other results were kind to the Albion but that said we still clearly find ourselves embroiled in a relegation fight.

Call me old fashioned, but why don’t we start with our strongest 11 players subject to injury or suspension?

The club took a huge and expensive gamble signing Messrs Lallana and Welbeck, at present it hasn’t paid off, surely is it not going to be better that if fit, Graham Potter starts them and get 60 mins or so rather than chasing a game in the last 15 mins?

Perhaps if he does go with his best 11, which contains in my opinion both aforementioned players, I think the Albion WILL get something from a game they simply cannot afford to lose.