Martin O'Neill has reiterated his frustration with VAR after Celtic saw two goals ruled out for offside in Saturday's 2-1 win over St Mirren. The Hoops boss claims the team in charge of the technology at Clydesdale House have been having issues drawing the lines for offside calls for a considerable amount of time.
Two goals chalked off in Paisley
The Premiership champions maintained their perfect start to the league season in Paisley by coming from a goal down to beat the Buddies 2-1, but the main talking points after full-time centred on two goals for the visitors that were chalked off by VAR for offside.
First, Camilo Duran was adjudged to have strayed offside when he bundled home an equaliser in the first half. Then, late in the game, Celtic substitute Shim Mheuka thought he had bagged his first goal for the club since sealing a loan switch from Chelsea, only for VAR to intervene and rule it out.
O'Neill's candid confession
After the game, a perplexed O'Neill insisted he had never seen 'so many crooked lines in my life' in relation to the two goals that were chalked off. Speaking to the media before Wednesday night's trip to St Johnstone, the Irishman once again vented his frustration at Mheuka's overturned strike.
He said: "I didn't agree with him (referee Ryan Lee) but I didn't see the lines. Yeah, I think it's frustrating in that sense that you think in this particular day and age that you could get lines drawn properly but I think it's been a bit of a problem here for a while. And you know what, some days it'll work in our favour so I shouldn't complain. I'm not complaining because we won!"
Focus on St Johnstone, not Rangers
O'Neill is also adamant Celtic are fully fixated on the game in Perth and not Sunday's showdown with arch-rivals Rangers in the last eight of the Premier Sports Cup. Asked if he had an eye on the clash at Ibrox, he replied: "I genuinely can't, and that's honestly where I think, first of all, we have to play our game. We have to try and defend a title. We have to try and win a football match. And to me, this game is far more important than Sunday's match."
