NafisaThe SFA’s Key Match Incident panel have unanimously decided that the call to allow Hibs’ equaliser during their 2-1 defeat to Celtic was the RIGHT one.
Martin O’Neill’s side kept their title challenge alive with a crucial victory in Edinburgh, with Kelechi Iheanacho grabbing a dramatic late winner after Joe Newell had earlier wiped out Daizen Maeda’s opener.
But the encounter was far from free of controversy.
Firstly, Maeda went to ground inside the box following a challenge from Easter Road goalkeeper Jordan Smith, but on-field referee David Dickinson along with the VAR officials at Clydesdale House believed the decision not to award Celtic an early penalty was the correct call.
VAR was then involved again on 21 minutes when Jamie McGrath’s reckless tackle on Alistair Johnston was upgraded from a yellow card to a red, leaving David Gray’s men facing an uphill battle for the remainder of the contest.
Maeda’s strike on 42 minutes was later subjected to an extended VAR review over a possible offside during the build-up, with the lengthy delay leaving interim Hoops boss O’Neill frustrated and confused.
Then, in first half stoppage time, VAR ruled that Newell’s equaliser should stand despite the ball appearing to strike the Hibs midfielder’s arm before he found the net.
While the KMI panel backed the final outcome of those four incidents, they did conclude that VAR should have intervened to award Celtic a second half penalty following Josh Campbell’s foul on Benjamin Nygren.
The mistake was placed into category two on their difficulty scale, described as “a simple decision that all officials should get correct.”
Their assessment of the moment 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.”
Nafisa
