Jim Goodwin has reiterated his frustration over a controversial decision in Dundee United’s 3-1 home defeat to Hibernian despite a “productive” meeting with Scottish FA’s head of refereeing Willie Collum.
During the Scottish Premiership clash at Tannadice, the match was level at 1-1 when on-loan United striker Sam Dalby thought he had scored with a header.
However, after a lengthy VAR review, the goal was disallowed for a handball, much to the dismay of Goodwin.
He reflected on the decision during his immediate post-match press conference, saying, “Having reviewed all the angles with my analyst and the broadcast footage, I simply can’t see the handball.”
As the game progressed, Hibs capitalised by scoring two late goals through Kieron Bowie and Junior Hoilett to secure a 3-1 win.
The stakes are very high in the race for the top-six and to seal a spot in the much-coveted European places. And the result meant Hibs leapfrogged Goodwin’s men into fourth.
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Despite conceding twice in second half stoppage time, Goodwin’s focus remained on the contentious VAR call, which he believes played a significant role in his side’s defeat.
Speaking to the media ahead of United’s next match against Aberdeen this weekend, the Irishman also suggested that his team have been on the end of multiple dubious decisions over the season.
“We need to move forward and we need to focus on the next game, which is a huge fixture up at Pittodrie on Sunday,” he said.
“Of course, there’s still a bit of a hangover from Wednesday night with the decision that went against us.
“I said after the game if somebody showed me an angle that proved my statement after the game was wrong then I would apologise, but I stand by everything that I said.
“There isn’t a conclusive angle that shows there was any handball and therefore we believe that the goal should have stood and it should have put us 2-1 up in a very important game.
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“Look, we had a productive meeting with Willie Collum yesterday [Thursday].
“I think Willie has been has been a real positive within that department of the SFA. I certainly think things have been better this year in terms of communication and transparency.
“I’m not going to go into too much detail with regards to the type of conversation that we had and Willie’s views, but I am led to believe that Willie will be doing some type of interview with the [Key Match Incident] panel on YouTube later on next week and I think he’ll give his own opinion on that incident himself.
“I just said to Willie that we all had a meeting at Hampden at the beginning of the season and the IFAB [International Football Association Board] rules were all made aware to us and the biggest rule probably is that ‘clear and obvious’ one, that VAR can only intervene with an on-field decision if they have got significant footage that shows there was a clear and obvious error.
“And I think from the audio and from the video angles that we have seen, there is no suggestion of a handball within this Sam Dalby goal.
“So that’s the big gripe for us. We believe that the goal should have stood but there’s nothing we can do about it now.
“As I said, Willie will no doubt speak for himself maybe in the early part of next week and give his own opinion on it. But there’s nothing that we can do now.
“I think that’s the message that I’ve been giving to the players, as hard done to as we feel with that big decision, we have to move on. There have been other VAR decisions that have went against us this season but those decisions have been up for debate.”
