Thierno Barry settled a match largely devoid of quality with a deflected effort as Everton beat Ipswich 1-0 at the Hill Dickinson, with VAR intervening to deny the Toffees forward what looked to be a legitimate second goal.
James Tarkowski's strike from range hit the striker and wrong-footed Christian Walton to hand David Moyes' side their second victory of the season, extending their unbeaten start and lifting them to fifth in the table.
But Everton arguably should have won by a larger margin. Barry met Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall's in-swinging corner with a fine glancing header in the second half, only for VAR to intervene and chalk it off, deeming Brennan Johnson to have been interfering with play from an offside position.
The incident comes a week on from the heavily , where VAR's inaction drew major criticism, forcing Pro Ref to issue a statement of apology. On this occasion, however, VAR's intervention may well cause controversy for the opposite reason.
Speaking on Soccer Saturday, Sue Smith said: "The goal has been ruled out with Johnson deemed to be affecting the goalkeeper, but this is a bad decision. There was no way he was going to save that."
The hosts tried and failed to score many more times. Johnson skewed wide in the first five minutes, while Dewsbury-Hall bookended a poor performance in front of goal by heading inexplicably off target from a perfect Tyler Dibling cross late on. From 21 shots, Everton landed two on target.
In the end, their wastefulness did not matter, with Ipswich unable to make any of their chances stick either. Abdul Fatawu was dismissed for two bookable offences, the second for simulation, before the afternoon was out, with Gary O'Neil left visibly frustrated with his side's lack of quality in the final third. Ipswich registered double Everton's efforts on target but failed to properly test Jordan Pickford.
5: MISS! Johnson flashes wide after being put through smartly by Harrison Armstrong.
9: SAVE! Pickford denies Emersonn at his near post after a needless giveaway from Dewsbury-Hall.
11: GOAL! Tarkowski's strike from distance rebounds fortunately off Barry and wrong-foots Walton to give Everton an early lead.
33: CHANCE! Ainsley Maitland-Niles picks out Barry with a guided cross but the striker has to stoop to meet the delivery and steers off target.
38: MISS! Leif Davis meets Fatawu's lofted cross and is completely unmarked at the back post but manages to casually poke wide.
58: VAR! The video officials send the referee to the pitchside monitor to overturn Barry's second goal after Johnson is deemed to interfere with the goalkeeper's line of sight, despite being nowhere near the ball.
67: RED! Fatawu dismissed for diving having already collected a yellow card for halting an Everton break.
76: MISS! Dewsbury-Hall heads Dibling's teasing cross wide, completely unmarked.
Everton boss David Moyes:
"On the VAR decision, does it affect his [the goalkeeper's] ability to see? I didn't think that was the case. It's difficult for the referees, I understand that.
"Do I think we will get consistency on the same thing throughout the season? I'll be doubtful of that. The goalkeeper wouldn't have saved the header.
"No doubt Brennan is offside, but did he interfere, really? He was never going to save it. Ultimately it didn't make any difference to the result so I'm thankful for that."
On the performance: "We had big chances to go further in front, we didn't. We should have scored more once the player got sent off, Ipswich made it a bit nervy at the end. But we got the job done after a difficult week.
"We're doing a lot of good things but I would have liked it to be better today. Twenty-one shots and two on target, that's not any good."
Ipswich manager Gary O'Neil:
"Disappointed with the result, very unfortunate to leave with nothing. The goal is unfortunate.
"The main criticism is we didn't manage to score because we arrived in good areas.
"The final pass, we leave it short. We don't quite make the right decision or execute well enough.
"We felt like we had control. Away from home in the Premier League, the players deserve credit for that. We were competitive."
On the red card: "I've seen them given, seen them not given. He's anticipating contact and, in truth, moves his leg towards it. I've spoken to Abdul, he's a young kid giving us everything, he's got to be a bit more wise when he's on a yellow. He understands that. Our response with 10 men was incredible."
