Another Scottish Premiership fixture card and yet more VAR controversy. SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell’s prediction that the technology would be “horrendous” for a few months is actually proving to be a bit of an understatement.
Champions Celtic beat Motherwell 2-1 at Fir Park and for the second match in a row for the Hoops there was no shortage of VAR controversy with three massive calls under real scrutiny. Steelmen boss Steven Hammell also hit out at an incident in the build-up to what proved to be the winner for the visitors at Fir Park
Ange Postecoglou, though, had a couple of reasons of his own to feel hard done by with two incidents involving his side. David Dickinson was the man who was behind the controls at the VAR centre at Clydesdale House having been on the pitch during Celtic’s clash at the weekend when he awarded Dundee United a penalty for handball against Alexandro Bernabei after being asked to review the incident on the pitch side monitor.
Because the game was not Sky Sports, there was only the minimum of six cameras in operation at Fir Park. This is in itself proved a problem, with Dickinson unlikely to have been helped by the angles from which he could have viewed one of the incidents in particular. Here, Record Sport looks at the trio of big calls from the midweek clash.
Jota offside goal
This one made the headlines as the Portuguese star looked to be onside, delaying his run onto Kyogo’s pass, when he scored what would have been an absolute peach of a goal had it counted. Ange Postecoglou didn’t make too much of a fuss afterwards, saying: “It was a great goal, but if it’s offside then it’s offside. I have no problem with VAR, just use it when you need to. That’s the perfect example if that’s offside. I haven’t seen it but it’s a good time to use it.” But the replays show the former Benfica man was onside with various images appearing to back that up. Debating it on the BBC Sportscene highlights show, Michael Stewart said: "I don't know, this one is as clear as mud, it's very tight. I think he (Jota) is probably marginally off, you can see his body position is leaning forward and I would say, maybe, his head is slightly...." But he questioned the quality of the evidence for Dickinson given the angel. When asked if he could say for definite, he added: "No, because we don't have the technology that they have got. If that is the line they have taken then it's very difficult to say from that position."
Josh Morris challenge
This was a shocker from the former Salford City man who, with 10 minutes left and the home side chasing an equaliser, wildly lunged in on Carl Starfelt to wipe out the Swedish stopper who has only recently returned from injury and was making his first league start since the derby demolition of Rangers back in September.
Willie Collum immediately showed a yellow card to the 31-year-old midfielder but it did go to VAR for a check for a potential red card, albeit a quick one, but Dickinson opted not to ask Collum to take a closer look at the tackle and Morris remained on the park.
Daizen Maeda goal
With Motherwell desperately trying to get back into the game in the dying minutes, Fir Park loanee Matt Penney takes a quick throw in but it deflects off the head of Sead Haksabanovic who isn’t even on the field of play. The ball then lands at the feet of former Steelmen midfielder David Turnbull who breaks and plays a lovely long ball forward for Daizen Maeda to double Celtic’s lead with six minutes left.
Steven Hammell was less than impressed afterwards and said: “It was right in front of us. Matt’s taken it quickly, the Celtic player has stopped it but he’s stopped it from off the pitch. That was the frustration of ours because essentially the Celtic player has headed the ball onto the pitch. It’s no an excuse. We wanted them to look at it. I don’t even know if they did. But it was just dismissed quickly. Ultimately it was a chance for us to go on the attack and the Celtic player stopped that at source and then they go up and score so we would have like them to at least have had a look at it."
READ NEXT
