Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner says referee Sam Barrott is a ‘great man’ after he admitted he made a mistake in ruling out Eberechi Eze’s free-kick against Brentford

Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner insisted referee Sam Barrott is a ‘great man’ after the official admitted he made a mistake by blowing for a foul before Eberechi Eze had converted a free-kick.

Eze thought he had put Palace ahead in the first half when his long-range strike deceived Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken at his near post.

But Barrott blew his whistle for a foul in the box before the ball hit the net, with the official deeming Will Hughes had pushed defender Nathan Collins to the floor.

Replays showed there was minimal, if any, contact from Hughes. There was a brief VAR check but, because Barrott had blown his whistle before the ball had crossed the line, it was not possible to overturn the decision.

Eze said after the game Barrott had told him he made an error by blowing his whistle too early and Glasner praised the official for his honesty.

Barrott (pictured) admitted he made a mistake in ruling out Eberechi Eze’s free-kick for Crystal Palace

Barrott felt that Crystal Palace’s Will Hughes had brought down Brentford’s Nathan Collins

Eze threrefore thought that he had found the net for Palace, but his effort was disallowed

‘It shows that he has a good character and he is a good guy,’ Glasner said. ‘We can always find excuses. It’s part of the game to make mistakes. I didn’t see anyone who made no mistakes. I made mistakes today as well. It shows that he’s a great man to say ‘yes I made a mistake’ but it doesn’t change things.

‘Of course everyone was surprised that the referee blew his whistle so early but I can’t complain about it because the decision is made.

‘We thought it was a goal but the rules are, when the ball is in the game and the referee whistles, the goal doesn’t count. It is how it is. We won’t get this goal back for a draw.

‘I think we had many other situations where we could take the lead in the first half and we didn’t because we were a little bit sloppy. We scored but it was offside. We could have avoided the cross for their goal and defended better. I’m very confident that when we get into our rhythm then we will get into these games.’

Glasner stated that there is no update on Marc Guehi’s future amid interest from Newcastle

Glasner added that there was no update on Marc Guehi’s future. The defender, who has been the subject of four rejected bids from Newcastle, started and captained Palace on Sunday.

‘Everyone can see he is completely focused on Crystal Palace and the game today. This is what I expected from Marc because he did it the whole week. The last two days, we didn’t speak about transfers because we are focused on the game, so no news. He can’t be, after 10 days of training and returning from the Euros, on his top level, but he did very well today.’