Under the watch of VAR Kyogo Furuhashi suffers actual physical harm as Mikey Devlin comes through him from behind, connecting with his heel and thigh. No penalty.
Ross McCausland runs out of ideas and space so decides to take a tumble in the penalty box.
Only Michael Nicholson cracks jokes about incidents like those two, his boardroom buddies think that their CEO is at the cutting edge when it comes to banter.
Both of the incidents came in front of the East Stand at Livingston, at the time both matches were goal-less with the visitors looking for a first half breakthrough. As Davie Martindale said after today’s match going a goal behind to the O** F*** makes Livingston’s task near impossible.
Same pitch. ✔️
Same box. ✔️
Different officiating from VAR. ❌ pic.twitter.com/xwBm7WITxX— Swed (@Swedleypops) March 31, 2024
With less than a dozen first team appearances to his name McCausland’s dive was just too obvious, it was embarrassing but not as embarrassing as the decisions taken by the match officials.
Steve McLean, brother of former Murray Park starlet Brian didn’t hesitate, he knows the stakes involved in this season’s SPFL Premiership title race.
It was Philippe Clement’s fourth SPFL match in charge, on the back of a demanding Europa League tie at home to Sparta Prague.
On VAR duty Steven Kirkland reviewed the incident from multiple angles and agreed with his colleague McLean. Tavpen missed from the spot but his side went on to win 2-0 with a second penalty awarded in the 75th minute.
Today it was the Don Robertson and Alan Muir combination in action as Mikey Devlin crashed through the back of Kyogo Furuhashi as he took a pass from Alistair Johnston around 12 yards from goal.
Robertson had a clear view of the contact and took no action, Muir carried out the briefest of VAR checks and decided against getting Robertson to check on the monitor.
Football matches are decided by small margins, next Sunday’s Glasgow Derby could be decided by the application of VAR.
CLICK HERE for Celtic’s statement on Rodgers’ touchline ban.
CLICK HERE for the three ananswered questions from Rodgers’ appeal.
💬 “Penalty Rangers”
Celtic chief Michael Nicholson’s cutting reply when quizzed on referees and VAR at AGMhttps://t.co/6vJYJ8p66Ihttps://t.co/6vJYJ8p66I
— Scottish Sun Sport (@scotsunsport) November 22, 2023
