Gutted St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson believes Celtic’s VAR penalty award was the pivotal moment in their Scottish Cup defeat.
The Buddies were only losing 1-0 at Parkhead with 15 minutes to go after Daizen Maeda’s opener for the Hoops. Ange Postecoglou’s men were on top but searching for a second goal as Saints hung on. But that all changed when ref Steven McLean used VAR to punish Richard Taylor for stopping a Liel Abada shot with his arm on the goal-line.
The defender was sent off and Reo Hatate tucked away the spot kick. And Celtic’s subs then took control, as Matt O’Riley, Oh and Hatate with a second took the game away from St Mirren. Afterwards, Robinson said: “For 75 minutes there was nothing between the teams, which is the greatest credit I can pay to my players. They brought on three players and scored four goals. That shows the level of quality they’ve got. But the decision changes the game. We had limited them to very few opportunities in the first half and got punished for that mistake. But on 75 minutes things changed completely.
