OFFICIAL — The KMI Panel have confirmed that Celtic were indeed CHEATED by the VAR Don Robertson and Referee in 2-1 win vs Hibs as key incident CLEARLY given against Hoops, and it’s Not the Handball Goal

Celtic should have received a penalty during their 2-1 victory over Hibs according to an official SFA publication.

With the contest tied at 1-1, Ben Nygren was shoved inside the penalty area by Josh Campbell.

The Hibs substitute appeared to use both hands to stop the Swede from pulling the ball back across goal from the byline.

Referee David Dickinson and assistant Calum Spence were both well positioned near the incident. Liam Scales and Campbell were both booked after tempers flared, but no punishment was handed out for the challenge on Nygren, with play restarting via a goal kick to Hibs.

SFA OFFICIALS COME UNDER SCRUTINY DESPITE VAR AND SKY SPORTS COVERAGE

Sky Sports showed the incident once on replay, although there was no mention of Don Robertson and Duncan Nicolson reviewing it while on VAR duty.

Last night, the SFA released their weekly KMI Panel report which stated:

“The panel unanimously agreed that the on-field decision was incorrect. The panel highlighted VAR should have intervened to recommend an OFR and a penalty should have been awarded.”

The KMI Panel consists of former referees, pundits and ex-players.

It is not common for the panel to openly say that “VAR should have intervened”.

Two match officials were specifically assigned to oversee those situations, while clubs continue to spend heavily on VAR technology.

Once VAR becomes involved, the outcome is usually expected to be straightforward, yet both VAR and the KMI Panel agreed there was no issue with Joe Newell’s equaliser standing.

The KMI Panel did support both VAR interventions during the opening half.

Firstly, Kieran McGrath’s yellow card for his foul on Alistair Johnston was upgraded to a red card following a pitchside review.

Then Douglas Ross’ offside decision against Daizen Maeda’s goal was overturned.

There are unlikely to be many supporters or pundits satisfied with the call to allow Newell’s goal to count, but the major talking point will centre around the Nygren penalty appeal.

For two on-field officials to miss the foul is poor enough. For VAR not to even send the referee to review the incident is extremely difficult to justify.

The SFA still have two rounds of Premiership fixtures left before the campaign ends.

At the moment, no appointments have yet been published on their website for the matches scheduled on May 13 and May 16.

Supporters will now wait to see whether Dickinson and Robertson are handed any of those fixtures after the controversy surrounding Easter Road.