Three minutes and six reviews- VAR Agony for John Beaton

John Beaton was just three minutes away from a night of epic celebrations at the Crown Bar in Bellshill.

It was that close, tantalisingly close.

He could almost picture the scene.

All of the ‘party tunes’ would be playing. Shiny happy people all around, songs about hating Catholics and Ireland would fill the air.

Old school pals would be congratulating him. He’d be sharing a few funny stories.

The after-match scenes, smiling as he shook Martin O’Neill’s hand after the final whistle.

How he had ignored the penalty box rugby tackle on Liam Scales by Tochi Chukwuani.

The quiet laugh that he had as Dujon Sterling man-handled Sebastian Tounekti inside the box and off the park.

Those incidents and more with Sky Sports highlighting none of them.

Pundits all round congratulating Beaton for his handling of the match.

Remember John Souttar’s Kung Fu assault on Junior Adamu? Nothing to see here.

BEATON FORCED INTO THE SPOTLIGHT

And then. Dujon Sterling went all in on Daizen Maeda. In the 87th minute.

The former Chelsea reserve got away with his attack on Tounekti.

Now he had a boot aimed at Maeda’s head and a raised left arm to prevent the header reaching the net.

Then Beaton got the prompt from Steven McLean on VAR and his world collapsed.

Those plans in tatters. Time stood still for Beaton as he trudged over towards the tunnel at Ibrox.

As a kid he had dreamed of running out of it to the adulation of fans. Friends and family cheering one of their own.

Now he was trudging over knowing that he was about to award Celtic an 87th minute penalty and the chance to equalise. An epic, near fatal blow to the Rohl Revolution that had been launched in November with a VAR call against Livingston.

Beaton took his time. He reviewed the Beaton handball from every angle, he could find one that even clouded the issue.

He remembered the Manny Fernandez handball against Livingston in November.

That one was so bad that even Willie Collum had to highlight it as a mistake.

Collum didn’t expand on it. Did Beaton not know the rules or did he decide to ignore them.

THE LANARKSHIRE CONNECTIONS

In any country other than Scotland he would have been demoted to the lower leagues for six months.

Collum being a long term friend from the Lanarkshire Referee Association understood the circumstances.

The lucrative appointments have continued.

When Beaton suffered a hamstring injury in mid-January he got a full run of VAR appointments while his portly body went through rehab.

But now there really was no way out.

After six reviews taking more than two minutes at the monitor he faced up to reality.

A penalty to Celtic. A likely equaliser, more points dropped with Hearts six points clear with nine matches left to play.

Penalty it was. With the second rebound Hatate equalised.

Celtic fans went wild in their celebrations.

It was a quiet night at home for Beaton, almost as quiet as at the Crown Bar.