Northern Ireland midfielder Corry Evans has aired his thoughts publicly for the first time after he was a victim of a controversial decision in the first leg of his country’s World Cup playoff tie with Switzerland.

According to the Blackburn Rovers star, video technology should be introduced for big games after the aforementioned decision denied Northern Ireland a place at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Corry Evans was penalised for handling in the penalty area by Romanian centre referee Ovidiu Hategan however replays showed that the ball hit him on the back. AC Milan defender Ricardo Rodriguez converted the penalty to give the visitors a 1-0 first leg win.

The second leg in Basel ended 0-0 meaning that the controversial decision played a major part in Northern Ireland’s World Cup exit.

While speaking with popular media outlet, BBC, Evans stressed the need for video technology. In his words, he said: “Hopefully the referees can look at this, learn from it and introduce video technology a bit sooner.”

On his reaction to the decision, Evans, who was also booked thereby missing the second leg with an automatic one-match ban for yellow card accumulation, said he was “quite shocked if truth be told” when the decision was given against him.

The 27-year-old further added that: “I was penalised for something I didn’t actually commit. It led to me missing potentially one of the biggest games of my international career. It was a tough pill to swallow.”

The Irish FA have already concluded plans to back the implementation of video assistant referees (VARs) after last week’s controversy.

On the racist tweet his wife, Lisa, made about the Romanian referee. He said: “I have no control over what people write on social media, just as I have no control over the decision the referee made on Thursday night.”

“It has been dealt with and hopefully that is the end of it.” he concluded.

His wife had earlier apologised for the racist tweet.