Livingston striker Joel Nouble has claimed even Hearts' Alan Forrest admitted handling the ball moments before his side snatched a 97th minute equaliser.
A day of Tynecastle madness, sponsored by VAR, ended with a bang on Saturday as the 10-man home side rallied to claim a dramatic point.
Leading via Stephen Kelly's second-half strike, Nouble was challenged by Toby Sibbick as he charged into the box before Forrest raced up the other end for Josh Ginnelly's leveller.
Nouble says referee Craig Napier was aware the ball struck the winger's arm but decided not to give a foul - telling his linesman he'd take the flak if the call proved wrong.
“I could be biased and says it’s a foul (from Sibbick)," the Livi forward said. "I asked the ref and he said he didn’t think there was enough contact for a foul.
“That’s his opinion and I won’t doubt it. They were checking for a handball at first and even the Hearts player said it was a handball.
“So, we’re like ‘if even they’re saying it’s a handball...’
“I haven’t seen the replay so I can’t fully say. But the ref said to the linesman ‘if I get it wrong I’ll take the blame.’
“So he knows it’s a handball but he thinks it’s not intentional. No one intentionally handles it… but that’s VAR.
“Hearts are buzzing about it, we’re not. That’s football.”
Hearts defender Kye Rowles was sent off for pulling Nouble's shirt as he prepared to shoot but manager Robbie Neilson questioned whether the attacker had really been denied a goalscoring opportunity, contending he was still able to pull the trigger.
"That’s fair but if I was a shorter player, people wouldn’t say that," Nouble replied. People say ‘he’s a big player, he’s got to deal with it’, so if a player goes over the top of me I don’t get it. But if it’s a shorter player, it’s a foul all day.
“I feel the pull, but I get pulled every second time so for me, it’s normal.
“I was more annoyed about not scoring the chance. It’s a great save from (Craig) Gordon, to be fair, but that’s what I was more annoyed about.
“When I came back round, instead of looking at the penalty I went to the side and said ‘I did get pulled but I’m not sure it’s enough for a pen, so we’ll see’.
“But the way VAR’s been going, the amount of penalties being given, it feels like anything in the box gets given.”
Such was VAR's stranglehold on proceedings, Ginnelly didn't even bother celebrating his goal in the expectation it would be ruled out anyway.
And Sibbick believes that proves the technology has a cruel way of toying with emotions.
"It’s weird," the Hearts defender insisted. "You can’t even celebrate goals any more because you don’t know if it’s goal or not and if it’s chalked off you will have celebrated for no reason. At the end when Gino scored he didn’t celebrate because he didn’t know if it was going to be a goal or not.
"It’s playing with people’s emotions. But that’s how football is going to be."
But couldn't they just make the decisions quicker, as Neilson so passionately appealed for yesterday? An extended period of confused silence while a verdict is reached is already becoming customary.
"That’s tough because they need to look at it from every angle so it’s hard to make a decision quickly," Sibbick said. "We just have to wait and hopefully they make the right decision."
But even with all of the above in mind, and the fact Livingston found themselves on the wrong end of disputed decisions in midweek, you won't find Nouble pining for a return to a VAR-less Premiership.
He said: “The majority of decisions they do get right, so I can’t really… we’ve had two penalties against us in the last game against Aberdeen and I could see why they were given. Even though it was against us, it was probably right. For the game, it’s a good thing.
“Those decisions, most of them they get right. So, VAR’s alright.”
