SFA panel delivers verdict on disallowed Celtic goal at Hibs and contentious Rangers v St Mirren decisions

That is the verdict of the Scottish FA's Key Match Incident panel after reviewing footage from the William Hill Premiership match at Easter Road last Saturday.

Hibs won the match 2-1 to inflict only a second league defeat on the defending champions this season while extending their own unbeaten run which now stands at 14 matches.

However, Celtic were aggrieved that an 83rd minute leveller from Daizen Maeda was chalked off after a VAR check deemed that the ball had crossed the byline in the build-up.

Referee Steven McLean had awarded the goal in real time after assistant David Roome advised that, in his eyes, the ball had remained in play as Alistair Johnston stretched out his boot to deliver the cutback which Maeda finished.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers questioned the decision to overrule the onfield officials, accusing the VAR team of Alan Muir and Ross Macleod of "guessing" the outcome due to the lack of a definitive camera angle.

"Well, I'm hoping to see conclusive evidence that it was out," Rodgers said. "The linesman on this side... he probably has one of the best views in the ground and he kept his flag down, which tells me that he felt it was in. Not all of the ball was out.

"So if it's the case, then you've got to go and review it with VAR. But then you're taking an angle from the 18-yard line. If you're taking the angle from the 18-yard line, and you can tell me that you can absolutely say 100 per cent, then you're having a guess."

Rodgers has now been vindicated by the five-member KMI panel which has reached a majority conclusion that the VAR intervention was an error and that the goal should have stood.

The report read: "The majority (4:1) of the panel deemed the on-field decision of goal to be correct. They felt the factual VAR intervention for the ball being out of play was incorrect. One panel member felt VAR was correct to intervene as they belived one of the angles showed the ball out of play."

The incident was one of 14 decisions the KMI panel reviewed from the fixtures which took place on February 22 and 23 with no other incorrect outcomes found.

From the same match, the panel unanimously agreed that VAR was correct not to recommend a red card for Hibs defender Rocky Bushiri for catching Celtic's Jeffrey Schlupp in the act of attempting a shot on goal, while they were also in complete agreement over the non-penalty award for Hibs in the second half after Mykola Kukharevych went down in the box under a challenge from Cameron Carter-Vickers.

The panel also reviewed a number of incidents in St Mirren's 2-0 victory at Ibrox which resulted in Rangers manager Philippe Clement being sacked the following day. The decision to overturn a red card shown to Hamza Igamane was met with unanimous approval while a majority found that the correct decision was reached to overturn the onfield decision to disallow Mikael Mandron's opening goal for the Buddies.

Referee Kevin Clancy initially ruled that Mandron had fouled Rangers defender Clinton Nsiala in the build-up but changed his mind to award the goal after VAR recommended a trip to the pitchside monitor.

The report read: "The panel discussed this decision at length with the majority (4:1) of the panel deemed the on-field decision of free-kick to be incorrect. The majority (4:1) believed that VAR was correct to intervene and recommend an OFR to award the goal. One member of the panel highlighted that they thought VAR should not have intervened."

St Mirren's second goal was also the subject of a VAR review for a potential foul in the attacking phase of play by the panel found by 4:1 majority that the decision not to recommend a review was the correct one.