Andy Halliday believes VAR made a serious blunder by denying St Mirren a penalty on a night they suffered a last-gasp defeat to Rangers. Ismeal Kabia appeared to be upended in the box by Emmanuel Fernandez with only a smattering of appeals made to referee Don Robertson. Halliday believes VAR official Steven McLean made a grave error by not asking the man in the middle to check the pitchside monitor.
One-sided first half
St Mirren weathered an incessant storm from the hosts during a one-sided first half before coming on strong before Bojan Miovski's last-gasp winner for Rangers. But Halliday reckons the Buddies should have been given a chance to break the deadlock from 12 yards for the challenge from Fernandez which went unpunished.
Halliday's verdict
The former Ibrox star, speaking on Sportscene, said: "Undoubtedly, for me. Dujon Sterling drops his runner and Kabia gets in the blind side of him. I think you can forgive a referee for not seeing this live, because there wasn't much of an appeal when it came to the St Mirren players."
"But when you see the replays, there is no doubt in my mind that it's not Kabia who initiates contact here, it's Fernandez. You can see that little buckle of the ankle to suggest where the contact comes. I forgive referees for not getting that in live scenarios but VAR has got to pick those scenarios up. For me, I think St Mirren should have had a penalty kick in that instance."
