Heart of Midlothian were wrongly denied a penalty during their Scottish Premiership draw at Ross County, according to the Scottish FA's Key Match Incident (KMI) panel.
The five-person panel analysed footage of Michee Efete’s challenge on Hearts defender James Penrice and determined that the foul occurred within the penalty area.
That was the initial outcome of match referee Ross Hardie, yet VAR intervened and awarded a free-kick instead.
Hearts went on to draw the clash 2-2 despite being two goals ahead going into second half stoppage time.
Had they been given a spot kick with 52 minutes played, Neil Critchley's side would have been confident about sealing all-three points in Dingwall.
"The panel discussed this decision at length," a SFA note stated. "The majority (4:1) agreed with the initial on-field decision.
"The four panellists agreed an initial foul had occurred outside of the penalty area, however they believed there was a further foul committed inside the penalty area and the original decision should have stood.
"One panel member agreed with the VAR intervention as the initial foul was outside the penalty area and in their opinion nothing punishable took place after this."
In its review, the panel determined that Liam Boyce's goal was rightfully disallowed, as the Hearts forward was in an offside position when Blair Spittal took the free-kick that led to the rebound.
“The panel unanimously agreed that the onfield onside decision was incorrect. The panel highlighted VAR was correct to intervene and disallow the goal for offside,” read the notes.
