THIS it the hilarious moment Nottingham Forest fans jokingly tried to bribe ref Anthony Taylor during their win over Southampton.
Forest moved level on points with second-place Arsenal thanks to a 3-2 victory at the City Ground on Sunday.
First-half goals from Elliot Anderson, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Chris Wood set Nuno Espirito Santo’s men on their way.
And Forest showed their defensive grit as Southampton threatened a late comeback through strikes from Jan Bednarek and Paul Onuachu.
However, at one stage the hosts looked to have been completely clear as they took a 4-1 lead through Nikola Milenkovic’s powerful header.
Ref Taylor had originally let the goal stand before VAR intervened and advised a check at the pitch-side monitor.
But as the official went to watch the footage, Forest fans behind the screen hilariously waved credit cards and wallets at him in a jokey attempt to bribe and sway his decision.
The clip of the moment quickly went viral, with one saying: “This is really funny.”
Another declared: “He’s asking it to swipe.”
One noted: “This country and banter.”
Another added: “Insane.”
Unfortunately for Forest fans, watching the VAR footage instead prompted Taylor to rule out Milenkovic’s goal.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Fans hail ‘pure class’ Nottingham Forest owner Marinakis for what he did after Forest keep dream title hopes alive” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6367122182112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]The decision was made due to teammate Wood interfering in play from an offside position.
A statement from the Premier League Match Centre read: “The referee’s call of goal was checked by VAR, who deemed that Wood interfered with play after coming from an offside position.
“After an on-field review, the referee overturned the original decision and the goal was disallowed.”
Forest boss Santo also had his say on the strike being ruled out, adding: “I saw the image, VAR judge it, the law is clear.
“If a player is offside, has contact and interferes, the goal should be disallowed. Nothing to say about that.”