The weather did its best to spoil this game, though the two sides put on a decent show in the end. It was VAR and the ludicrous current interpretation of handball that ruined the afternoon, especially for Eddie Howe and his players, who saw an opening goal harshly chalked off in the first half, then what looked like an equaliser converted into a Burnley penalty.

This is where football is at the moment. Bournemouth players were celebrating at one end after Harry Wilson had taken Callum Wilson’s pass and slipped the ball under Nick Pope, when the game was halted because VAR was inspecting an incident a few seconds earlier, when a Dwight McNeil cross had struck Adam Smith on the shoulder in the opposite penalty area.

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It was very hard to construe Smith’s attempted clearance as deliberate handball, but possibly because of another VAR interruption involving a shoulder in the first half that was what was eventually settled upon. The ball was brought back the length of the pitch, Jay Rodriguez scored from the spot, and the unlucky visitors had to stomach the score suddenly going from 1-1 to 2-0.

Even Sean Dyche had some sympathy. “That is probably the toughest scenario to take, but I don’t think it will happen too often,” the Burnley manager said. “I did think it was a penalty though.” Howe admitted his players had found it difficult to deal with the last half hour. “The difference between 1-1 and 2-0 is huge,” he said. “We fell apart a bit after that, but we were unlucky with the first decision as well. I don’t know when the top of the shoulder became the arm.”

Burnley had only been in front for five minutes before the controversy, Matej Vydra finding the net for the second time in two outings after McNeil slipped him into space. Francis came across rather late with an ineffective challenge that left him on the floor, allowing Vydra to calmly slip the ball beyond the advancing Aaron Ramsdale.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Eddie Howe remonstrates with referee Mike Dean after Bournemouth’s equaliser was disallowed, with Burnley then awarded a penalty. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

Out on the windy Moor the first half had been a collection of missed chances and wasted opportunities. Callum Wilson started it after just a couple of minutes, bringing a sharp reaction save from Pope when he probably should have scored. Then at the other end Vydra did well to get goalside of Francis, but having checked inside again to give himself a better shooting angle proceeded to put his attempt too close to Ramsdale.

Bournemouth thought they had taken the lead midway through the half when Josh King poked the ball over the line from Andrew Surman’s corner, only for VAR to overrule Mike Dean and disallow the effort for an alleged handball by Philip Billing. The midfielder emphatically did not handle the ball: it came off a defender and hit him on the point of the shoulder. Billing made no movement with his arm towards the ball, which came at him from a distance of no more than a couple of a feet, but the law is such an ass at the moment that anything arm-related in the buildup to a goal cannot be tolerated.

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The visitors were still bewildered by the logic when their next chance arrived, Harry Wilson reaching King’s cross at the far post but failing to bury his header. Pope made an alert save, to be fair, though Wilson had a free header and the whole of the goal at which to aim. Dan Gosling got back well to take the ball off Vydra’s toe when it was Burnley’s turn to look like scoring, before Jack Stacey shot straight at Pope at the other end.

Once they were 2-0 in front and playing against somewhat dispirited opponents Burnley had several chances to make victory more emphatic, notably when Vydra failed to hit the target at the far post and when McNeil crashed a shot against an upright 10 minutes from time. McNeil made up for that miss in the closing minutes, picking up the ball on halfway and driving though the Bournemouth defence to beat Ramsdale from the edge of the area. At no point in an evenly contested first hour did Bournemouth look like they would end up with a drubbing, but it seems to be true that when you are down near the bottom you don’t get any luck.