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Scottish FA head of referee operations Willie Collum has labelled the decision not to award Rangers a penalty against Celtic in Sunday’s Scottish League Cup final as “really, really poor” and “unacceptable”.
The Ibrox outfit, who lost the final on penalties after a 3-3 draw, were awarded a free-kick in extra time when Liam Scales was penalised by referee John Beaton for a pull on Vaclav Cerny right on the edge of the Celtic box.
Footage shows that the infringement started outside the area but continued inside the 18-yard box.
VAR officials Alan Muir and assistant Frank Connor moved “far too quickly” in their analysis of the incident according to Collum and were “not forensic enough”.
“People will obviously hear me say that it’s wrong, but that’s not enough,” he declared on the Scottish FA’s VAR Review show.
“We need to now understand why did we get it wrong and how do we make things better, how do we improve, what’s the lessons learned from this incident, because people will find it very hard to accept this error.
“It’s a really, really poor decision. It’s an unacceptable decision. The VAR team know that, everyone in refereeing knows it.”
Rangers noted “the Scottish FA’s admission of an officiating failure following the non-award of a penalty”.
And the club added: “For such a failure to occur during one of Scotland’s showcase matches is not only hugely disappointing for the club and its supporters, but also damaging for the credibility of Scottish football more widely.
“We acknowledge the Scottish FA’s determination to use this and other decision-making failures as opportunities to drive improvements in officiating standards.
“As a club, we will continue to engage with the Scottish FA in an attempt to improve officiating standards for the benefit of all clubs in Scotland.”
