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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Josh McCafferty

Collum delivers verdict on Rangers' controversial disallowed goal vs Aberdeen

The SFA's Head of Refereeing, Willie Collum, has praised his VAR officials for how they handled Rangers' eventual disallowed goal against Aberdeen just under a fortnight ago. 

2-0 down at the time, Barry Ferguson's side looked as though they had found a way back into the match in the first half through Hamza Igamane, but his close-range strike wasn't given because the ball was adjudged to have been out of play in the build-up. 


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The on-field decision was no goal, and because there weren't any definitive angles from which VAR could recommend a factual overturn, that verdict remained. 

Collum lifted the lid on the process and explained how the incident is an example of 'textbook' officiating. 

He said [VAR Review Show] "The assistant referee says the ball is out of play, but he delays the flag, [which is] perfect in terms of the VAR protocol, because if he triggers too early and flags and the referee blows for a goal-kick, and the goal is scored, then it's at a point of no return, and we can't award the goal. 

"He delays the flag and then says when the ball hits the net, 'Ball out of play, goal-kick', and the VAR immediately go into a check. 

"They [VAR officials] don't have any angle - there is nothing to say that what the assistant referee has said is wrong. 

"We could look at this right now, and for us, it looks like the ball is out of play, but can we absolutely guarantee it? Can we prove it? No. So we support the on-field decision there. This is textbook in the way we expect this incident to be handled."

Rangers went on to draw the match 2-2, despite being reduced to 10 men in the first half when Ross McCausland was ordered off. 

Igamane and Ianis Hagi both scored in the second 45 to secure a point for Ferguson's side and delay Celtic's potential title party until this weekend. 

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