Ange Postecoglou is the man who seems the least fussed in Scottish football at the introduction of VAR. But you would think his opinion might have changed after the technology helped award Celtic their first penalty in almost seven months.
Willie Collum couldn't get a clear view of Andrew Shinnie's handball late on in the Hoops comfortable win over Livingston but Alan Muir drew the whistler's attention to the incident and after checking it on the monitor, the man in black pointed to the spot.
Giorgos Giakoumakis - exactly a year on from missing a spot kick against the Lions at Parkhead - fluffed his effort from 12 yards but nevertheless it was a first penalty award for the champions since Andrew Dallas pointed to the spot during a 7-0 rout of St Johnstone way back on April 9. And it came just a week after there was a huge debate around a penalty many Celtic should have got - or should at least have been checked on the monitor - against Hearts at Tynecastle.
But while there was nothing controversial about VAR at the Tony Macaroni Arena, the same can't be said across the rest of the fixtures on the second weekend of the technology in Scottish football with Tony Watt's sending off for Dundee United after a foul on Motherwell's Sean Goss causing a storm. Here, Record Sport looks at the VAR intervention in the six Scottish Premiership fixtures across the weekend.
Livingston v Celtic
Former top ref Dermot Gallagher claimed on Sky Sports last week that it would have been a penalty in the English Premier League but said there is "a different level of tolerance" north of the border.
IFAB rules state that a player will be penalised if his body is an "unnatural silhouette", i.e. making his body bigger with his arm. It is also automatically an offence if the arm is above shoulder height.
VAR showed its value in this fixture as, from the angle he saw it, Willie Collum would have struggled to see Andrew Shinnie's handball but on second viewing had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Ange Postecoglou said: "My frustration last week was because we almost wanted to use VAR. I think the less we use it, the better. Let's just leave it for the key moments. Yeah, I complained about not getting one then we get one and we miss it so there you go."
Hibs v St Mirren
Pictures caught Marijan Cabraja just offside in a superb move before the cross which ended with Mykola Kukharevych putting the ball into net. But the penalty decision went for Hibs when Don Robertson was called to have a look at Richard Tait’s handball. Hibs boss Lee Johnson said: "I can't get used to it. I'm struggling with it.
"I don't know whether to celebrate twice or not celebrate at all and by the time you've actually confirmed it's a goal, it feels like the moment's gone. I think we scored three good goals not including the penalty, I don't know how far it was offside the disallowed goal.
"It's obviously there for a reason. I'd be interested to review those decision and listen to the conversations that are had."
Dundee United v Motherwell
This was the big one from the weekend - Tony Watt’s red card. Referee John Beaton was left with no option with the footage he was shown but from other additional angles it looked to be harsh, with very little force or intent and shouldn't have stood. Tangerines gaffer Liam Fox said: “From the footage the referee has seen I would probably agree it looks like a red card. But I have also seen other footage that casts a fair amount of doubt on it.
"It was a different angle and I see Tony Watt is pulling his leg back and there is very, very little contact with the player. Having seen the footage that the referee and the VAR has seen I could probably say, yes, it is a red card. But I have also seen other footage from different sources that maybe cast a wee bit of doubt over it so it is a bit of a contentious issue."
Rangers v Aberdeen
The technology did the business in spotting Jayden Richardson's handball to award Rangers penalty and also ruling out an Alfredo Morelos effort before confirming the Colombian’s goal. It could be argued it shouldn’t have been needed for those obvious calls but there’s still a new toy feel about the whole thing.
St Johnstone v Kilmarnock
Interfered with Craig Napier’s dismissal of James Brown, leading to a length delay before the Saints defender was spared. VAR then backed the ref for disallowing a Liam Donnelly leveller for a minimal infringement at a corner. Killie boss Derek McInnes said: "I thought we scored a legitimately good goal. I don’t know why VAR has to get involved in it. There was no contact on Stevie May, the ball was 10-12 feet over his head and the incident with the goalkeeper was that he dropped it when he should have punched it. The goal should stand.
"For the red card incident, when you see the referee takes just shy of five minutes to come to a decision, that itself tells you that it is not a clear and obvious error. It could have been a yellow it could have been a red but it’s the referee's job to referee the game and VAR should only get involved if he makes a clear and obvious error.
"I was standing 10 feet away from him and he’s seen the same angle of the same incident 30/40 times. Where are the different angles? We were told we would see three or four different angles and the referee would not see the same angle continuously. VAR shouldn’t have been involved in both incidents.
“There was only six added minutes at the end. We had four minutes of that VAR, we had disallowed goal, physios on and umpteen substitutes. We were told that time would be added and there was a lot more six minutes.”
Ross County vs Hearts
VAR had its part to play in an explosive opening period at Dingwall. Just five minutes were on the clock when Jordy Hiwula thought he'd opened the scoring after following up a great Craig Gordon save on the rebound. It was flagged for offside at the time and, after a lengthy VAR check, that decision was correctly upheld.
Things were less cut and dry when Lawrence Shankland levelled the scoring a few moments later. While another brief VAR check ruled him onside, County were left fuming at the technology for failing to pick up an alleged handball earlier in the phase of play. And after Andy Halliday's goal - the eventual winner - went without incident, a third Hearts goal was chopped off after Lawrence Shankland was deemed offside by both the referee and VAR.
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