IT happened at about 4.40pm.

There were about ten minutes left to play. Chris Brunt has just sent a shot into the stand, Simon Cox has under-cooked his effort straight to Brad Friedel.

Benoit Assou-Ekotto loops a clearance into the centre-circle, Emmanuel Adebayor flicks a boot at the ball, sending it into Jermain Defoe’s path.

Defoe paces towards goal, Jonas Olsson doesn’t commit and the England man strokes a low shot past Ben Foster. Two-one. Youssouf Mulumbu also missed a decent first-half chance.

And there ended Albion’s hopes of taking anything from the match.

Two teams separated by the quality of one player’s finish.

Spurs go on to win 3-1 but there was more to it than just an excellent counter-attack.

But, not for the first time of late, Albion fans were leaving a football game talking about the referee.

Lee Probert’s decision to award a penalty when Nicky Shorey ‘brought down’ Aaron Lennon was debatable to say the least. In real time it looked obvious. On replays it was a head-scratcher.

Likewise, waving away the Albion protests following a tangle between Jerome Thomas and Kyle Walker prompted discussion.

Again, in real time it was easy to make the assumption that Thomas had been impeded. Two wrongs are not to be taken as a positive, but equally, Albion boss Roy Hodgson was left wondering why one penalty was given, while another wasn’t.

And, for those of you who suffered Match of the Day’s coverage, it’s also worth noting that Albion asked further questions when James Morrison was felled. And then there was a lunge by Sandro which went unpunished. It was worthy of a red card given that he’d already been booked.

Several accounts suggested that Probert even had indulged in ‘banter’ with fans after being heckled.

If indeed that was the case then that needs to be looked at. Officials must be mindful that their jurisdiction of a game is necessary but, equally, they are not the reason why 25,000 fans pay good money to watch a football match.