“A terrible decision, He gets enough of the man for me, They got away with it, That might have made it two-nil if they’d given the penalty” Alan Shearer , Gary Lineker and former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher fumes at controversial penalty decision that influenced Crystal Palace loss to Everton

Gary Lineker reckons his former club Everton have found “the secret” to success after recording their first Premier League victory of the season but Alan Shearer reckons the Blues “got away with it” against Crystal Palace due to a pivotal refereeing decision.

After throwing away two-nil leads to lose 3-2 in consecutive fixtures against Bournemouth and Aston Villa, Sean Dyche’s men followed up a first point of the season at Leicester City a week earlier with a 2-1 comeback win over Oliver Glasner’s side at Goodison Park.

Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, Shearer, who is the Premier League’s all-time leading goalscorer, having netted 260 times in the competition, believes Everton were fortunate with a call from match official Andy Madley. He said: “The pressure on them after going one-nil down, and they got away with it. I thought it was a terrible decision, I thought Palace should have had a penalty, a (James) Tarkowski challenge on (Jean-Philippe) Mateta.”

Lineker chimed in: “Reckless, wasn’t it?,” to which Shearer said: “That might have made it two-nil if they’d given the penalty. I thought it was a terrible challenge.

“They got away with it but in the second half, Sean Dyche made a couple of changes and (Jack) Harrison came on and (Dwight) McNeil got a couple of goals.”

Lineker then remarked: “We’ve said it many times but it’s amazing what a difference a goal makes. They come out after 45 minutes under the cosh and then McNeil bends that one in the top corner, a fantastic goal.”

Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher speaking on the incident is also of the opinion that Palace should have been awarded a penalty for the Challenge.

Gallagher said: “I think he is lucky because he jumps in, he does eventually get the ball.

“I think Tarkowski jumps in – he does get some of the ball, there’s no doubt about that, but I think the fact he jumps in, he gets enough of the man for me.

“It’s going to split a lot of people. I actually thought it was a penalty – I was sat with another referee on Saturday, sat watching the same game, he thought no penalty, so tough call but for me it’s a penalty.”