Hearts and Hibs were the focus of contentious VAR rulings over the weekend.
Dermot Gallagher, a former referee in the English Premier League, has criticised the amount of time it took to give Dundee United their late penalty against Hibs over the weekend.
Following their 1-1 draw with Dundee United on Sunday, the Easter Road team was involved in a VAR controversy. Hibs head coach David Grey was furious when the visitors were given a penalty in the 90th minute after a VAR review determined that Mykola Kuharevich had pulled Emmanuel Adegoboyega’s jersey in the area.
After Kuharevich was sent off for a second bookable offence, Sam Dalby levelled from the penalty spot. Though referee Colin Steven was not instructed to go to his monitor this time, VAR stepped in once more a few moments later when goal scorer Dalby seemed to grasp Warren O’Hora’s shirt in the vicinity as the clock approached full time.
In an interview with Sky Sports, a displeased Grey criticised the “inconsistency” of both rulings, acknowledging that he didn’t believe “either of them were a penalty.” Now, top former EPL referee Gallagher acknowledged that he has sided with the Hibs manager.
Gallagher remarked, “I don’t think that [Kuharevich’s red card and penalty] is clear and obvious.” The bad news is that after determining that it was a foul on the screen, he returns and gives the player a yellow card. Finding a shirt pull requires four minutes of screen time, which is very hard to justify. You simply can’t stare at something for four minutes, in my opinion. Isn’t it similar to CSI?
The choice to overlook O’Hora’s shirt pull also baffled Gallagher, who added: “He actually gave a foul for the Hibs player behind.” He gets you a foul for it if you peek behind you. You will always find something if you continue to search. I am unable to explain it. One is too lengthy to view, and in the other, he called a foul for the player who went over the top. They ought to be treated equally, in my opinion—you either give both or you don’t.
Referee Chris Graham was called to the monitor by VAR official Josh Reid after Cammy Devlin was deemed to have wrestled Kyle Cameron to the ground within the box after Graham Carey’s corner, affecting other Edinburgh team Hearts as well. The judgement was made at St Johnstone on Saturday.
The Saints were tied at one after the decision, but Hearts would triumph at McDiarmid Park thanks to a late goal from replacement Kenneth Vargas.
“If you’re going to give penalties for those decisions we’ll be having 10-a-game I think,” said Hearts manager Neil Critchley, mocking the decision despite the team winning all three points.
Gallagher, however, insisted that the referees in Perth had made the right call in this case and had no objections to the penalty being given.
“Isn’t that a rugby tackle?” he asked. It’s a foul. It’s a rugby tackle to the ground, so good intervention. Since you can see where the referee is, I do wonder what he is looking at and whether he is keeping an eye on the ball as it approaches, as refs do. What’s the point of seeing a ball fly over? Keep an eye on what transpires in the box; there isn’t really a foul up there. You want to know where the ball will land and how it will influence the surface.
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