SFA panel delivers verdict on Celtic and Rangers penalty claims and the missed red card

The panel poured over 17 different incidents from the matches which took place between February 18 and 22 including the major flashpoints in the Celtic v Hibs and Livingston v Rangers games on Sunday.

Celtic defender Auston Trusty was red carded for violent conduct in the 2-1 defeat by Hibs following an altercation with Jamie McGrath.

Trusty struck down on his opponent's arm with his hand as the pair jostled at a corner-kick and was sent off by referee Matthew MacDermid after an intervention from VAR Grant Irvine.

Celtic's appeal against the decision was dismissed by an SFA fast-track tribunal and the KMI panel agreed unanimously that the correct outcome was reached by the officials.

There was some disagreement on the KMI panel, however, over whether Celtic should have had a penalty for a pull on Liam Scales by Hibs defender Jack Iredale when the match was tied at 1-1.

Celtic manager Martin O'Neill questioned the call after the match, stating: "The referee’s words were he didn’t hold on to him long enough, but it seems a wee bit strange. He’s grabbing someone’s shirt as he’s making a move to get the ball. Some years ago it was a penalty. But VAR, they’ve passed that one on.”

Only two of the three KMI panel members felt that the VAR decision not to recommend a penalty was the right one.

The report stated: The majority (2:1) of the panel deemed the on-field decision of no penalty to be correct. One panel member felt that VAR should have intervened and a penalty should have been awarded."

The KMI panel did, however, find that a VAR error was made in 2-2 draw between Livingston and Rangers at Almondvale.

It related to the 94th minute incident where Rangers forward Mikey Moore was challenged in the act of shooting by Cammy Kerr on the edge of the Livingston box after Rangers had recovered from two goals down to level the match.

Referee Ryan Lee waved away the appeals and VAR David Dickinson chose not to intervene despite video replays showing a clear foul. The initial contact appeared outside the box, however the challenge continued inside the box.

Much of the debate has centred around whether Rangers should have been awarded a penalty kick. The KMI panel were unanimous in agreement that no penalty kick was the correct outcome.

However, the failure to recommend a red card for Kerr for denying a goalscoring opportunity was deemed to be an error on the part of VAR.

The earlier red card shown to Livingston's Cristian Montano for a late challenge Rangers winger Djeidi Gassama when he was straight in on goal was adjudged to have been correct.

St Mirren succeeded in their appeal against Richard King’s red card in Saturday’s 5-0 home defeat by Motherwell and the KMI panel unanimously agreed that a mistake was made by referee Callum Scott and that VAR should have intervened to have the red card rescinded.