Chris Wood fumes at 'extremely harsh' refereeing as Newcastle United star denied World Cup dream

Newcastle United forward Chris Wood has insisted his disallowed goal in New Zealand's narrow 1-0 World Cup play-off defeat to Costa Rica was 'extremely harsh'. The All Whites suffered World Cup anguish in Doha, with a third-minute goal from former Arsenal forward Joel Campbell the only difference between the two sides.

Wood was unlucky to have his first-half equaliser disallowed following a seemingly harsh foul in the build-up and was also later denied a penalty after claims he was fouled by Los Ticos goalkeeper Keylor Navas.

New Zealand were also reduced to ten men after Kosta Barbarouses was sent off after a late foul on Francisco Calvo. The decision had originally been given as a yellow card, but after another intervention from VAR, the decision was upgraded from yellow to red.

Newcastle United's Chris Wood suffers World Cup heartache as Costa Rica defeat New Zealand

Wood, who spoke to sections of the media after the game, insisted some tough officiating cost his country. He began by saying: “Some decisions went against us that I thought were extremely harsh.

“It was extremely frustrating and VAR was brought in to be a bit clearer. The referees need to trust their instincts sometimes, and it’s unfortunate they don’t but that’s life, I guess."

Hailing the effort and commitment shown by his fellow teammates throughout the 90 minutes too, the 30-year-old directed praise insisting the defeat will only serve as further motivation.

Wood said: “I think it was outstanding. The boys put everything on the pitch — it’s all we can ask. This team has got a lot to come and hopefully, in the next four years, we can be back there.”