Chelsea mock VAR's failure to award a late penalty in their draw at West Ham as they claim Tomas Soucek 'SAVED' Conor Gallagher's goal-bound effort inside the box... despite referee Craig Pawson waving away their appeals

VAR's decision not to intervene after Tomas Soucek appeared to handle the ball late on in West Ham's 1-1 draw with Chelsea has been mocked - on the visiting side's social media account. 

Seemingly as incensed as players at - initially - Craig Pawson's decision not to award the penalty on field and then VAR's failure to overturn his call, Chelsea's Twitter account directed a veiled criticism at the referee.

'Soucek makes a great save from Conor Gallagher,' they wrote. 

The decision came moments after Tomas Soucek himself thought he had won the game for West Ham - only for VAR to rule out his shovelled effort after Declan Rice was adjudged to have strayed offside when the free-kick was swung in. 

The last 10 minutes aside, both sides will have felt that they could have done more to have won the game - with Chelsea left to rue a number of opportunities spurned in the first half owing to some mistimed runs by their forward players. 

Tomas Soucek handled the ball late on in the game and Chelsea felt they should have been awarded a penalty as a result

Tomas Soucek handled the ball late on in the game and Chelsea felt they should have been awarded a penalty as a result

Opinion on social media appeared to unanimously agree that Chelsea were denied a penalty. 

Sportsmail's Chris Sutton wrote: 'Handball from Soucek? That has to be a penalty for Chelsea?'

Another observer said Soucek was 'smart' with his handling of the ball in the situation. 

'That's a penalty for Chelsea,' they wrote. 'Soucek was smart with that.'

Graham Potter chose to focus on the positives after the game, putting the decision not to award his side a chance to win the game from the spot down to 'life'. 

'I think we could see positives in the performance, particularly in the first half it was a step forward for us compared to the previous game,' he told BT Sport. 

'There is lots to go forward with. We are in a process of getting guys up to speed and match minutes to sustain what we want to do. That is the challenge for us. There are positives in the game.