Celtic should have had a penalty against Kilmarnock on Flag Day, according to Scottish football’s Head of Referees, Willie Collum.
Speaking on the maiden edition of the brand new ‘VAR Review’ show on the SFA’s YouTube channel, Collum discussed several contentious decisions from the past month.
Regarding Kyogo’s denial of a penalty on the opening weekend of the season, Collum stated that on-field referee Don Robertson got it wrong, as did Greg Aitken in the VAR room.
In the second half of the game, Celtic were given a free kick not far from the Killie box.
Matt O’Riley lofted a lovely chipped ball over the top of the wall for Kyogo to latch on to. The striker got there ahead of opposition goalkeeper Robby McCrorie and was then clattered to the ground by the stopper.
At the time, it looked like a certain spot-kick, but the officials gave nothing.
Collum has revealed that their verdict was incorrect.
“We believe this is the wrong decision,” he said.
“We have coached the referees and the VAR’s that a penalty should have been awarded here.
“It’s an unexpected free kick, the move that the free kick was chipped over the wall. It catches the on-field referee by surprise.
“The Celtic player clearly gets ahead, wins the ball, touches the ball past the goalkeeper, and we then think that the goalkeeper’s actions are reckless.
“For us, this should have been a penalty kick. An on-field review should have been requested, and the referee asked to come and make a judgement on this call.
“We’ve coached that to the referees and the VAR’s, to make sure in future, that if this kind of incident happens, it’s punished by a penalty kick.”
The SFA can count themselves lucky that Celtic won this match, and the incorrect decision didn’t have any severe consequences.
Regardless, it is disappointing that despite having an on-field referee, two linesmen, and two VAR officials on duty, they still got it wrong.
Credit is due to Collum for coming out and putting things right, but that is what we can now expect from monthly instalments of ‘The VAR Review’.
It will hold officials to much greater account than usual and hopefully ensure an increase in the accuracy of decisions.
