SFA panel rules VAR and referee wrong to give controversial Celtic penalty against Motherwell

Celtic were awarded a match-winning penalty deep into stoppage time at Fir Park while drawing 2-2 with Motherwell. VAR Andrew Dallas alerted referee John Beaton after believing Sam Nicholson had handled the ball while challenging Celtic defender Auston Trusty in the air. Beaton consulted the pitchside monitor for under 20 seconds, pointed to the spot, and Kelechi Iheanacho scored to give Celtic a 3-2 win. The decision sparked major backlash and criticism from figures including Gary Lineker and Hearts manager Derek McInnes. The SFA KMI panel later ruled Beaton’s initial no-penalty decision was correct and the VAR intervention outcome was incorrect. The panel also deemed another late-round Hearts penalty call wrong involving a separate Motherwell match incident.

"VAR Andrew Dallas intervened to alert match referee John Beaton to his belief Motherwell winger Sam Nicholson had touched the ball with his hand while challenging Celtic defender Auston Trusty in the air. Pictures appeared inconclusive, but referee John Beaton, after viewing the pitchside monitor for no more than 20 seconds, pointed to the spot and Kelechi Iheanacho duly scored to secure a wildly-celebrated 3-2 win for the Hoops."

"That result meant Celtic only had to defeat Hearts by any score on the final day to secure the title, while they would have required a three-goal victory to prevail if their match at Motherwell had ended all square. The backlash to the spot-kick award was ferocious and widespread, with former England striker Gary Lineker saying it "might be the worst VAR decision I've seen". Hearts boss Derek McInnes called it "disgusting"."

"The KMI panel confirmed on Friday the referee was correct with his initial decision not to award a penalty and the VAR intervention outcome was incorrect. It was the second huge decision to go against Hearts in the closing rounds of fixtures that the KMI panel subsequently deemed to be wrong after Steven McLean controversially stuck by his initial decision not to award the Jambos a spot-kick away to Motherwell, while the match was level at 1-1, despite VAR Greg Aitken indicating that Alexandros Kyziridis had been tripped by Tawanda Maswanhise."

Read at Irish Independent