DAIZEN MAEDA’S disallowed goal that would have made it all-square in the 2-1 loss to Hibs at Easter Road almost a fortnight ago should have stood.
But Celtic escaped the award of a penalty-kick against them in their 5-2 win over St Mirren in Paisley last weekend.
That was the double verdict from SFA Head of Refereeing Willie Collum on the latest edition of The VAR Review.
Maeda thought he had fired in the leveller in Edinburgh and referee Steven McLean awarded the strike while standside assistant David Roome agreed with the onfield match official.
WRONG…VAR should not have ruled the ball was out before Alistair Johnston crossed for Daizen Maeda to score against Hibs at Easter Road.
However, VAR technician Alan Muir nullified the goal after ruling the ball had gone out of play before Alistair Johnston fired over the cross that was eventually rammed into the net by the Japanese ace.
There were still seven minutes plus stoppage-time to play and the highly controversial decision condemned the champions to only their second league defeat of the season.
Collum said: “You need 100 per cent conclusive evidence to disallow the goal and prove that the ball is over the goal line and, in this case, that’s not possible.
“It’s not possible to prove categorically that the ball has crossed the goal line fully.
“On this occasion, we expect the onfield decision to be supported and a goal awarded.”
WRONG…Alistair Johnston should have been booked and St Mirren awarded a penalty-kick for this challenge on Roland Idowu.
However, the Hoops should have had a spot-kick given against them when they winning 3-2 against Stephen Robinson’s team on Saturday.
On this occasion, Johnston was ruled to have challenged Roland Idowu fairly as far as Matthew McDermid and the VAR officials were concerned.
Collum, though, added: “For us, this is a penalty kick. This is a reckless challenge.
“The outcome here should’ve been penalty-kick and yellow card.”
ALEX’S ANGLE: JOHNSTON AND THE ASSUMPTION OF GUILT
