John Beaton was RIGHT to award Hibernian a penalty against Rangers on Sunday.
Philippe Clement's side twice gave away the lead at Easter Road, as the Scottish Premiership encounter ended in a 3-3 draw.
One of the key flashpoints in the six-goal thriller came in the second half when Beaton pointed to the spot after a collision between Ianis Hagi and Josh Campbell inside the area.
After taking a momentary pause, the experienced referee awarded Hibs a penalty, and VAR supported the decision. Martin Boyle stepped up to level the match at two goals apiece at the time, before further goals by Hamza Igamane and Rocky Burshiri.
The Key Match Incident Panel Outcomes from games taking place between 5-9 January are now available. ➡️ View the KMI panel outcomes here: https://t.co/248jkkYqsn
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Clement was unhappy about the spot kick decision during his post-match interviews.
He said: "The referee was clearly confident about it.
"I'm curious what the panel will say about this because if these are penalties every time, I need to ask all my players with every contact, collision to go down in the box - what I don't want.
"That's not how football needs to be played."
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Well, the Belgian now has his answer. The Scottish FA's KMI panel believes the on-field decision was correct, while VAR did the right thing by not getting involved.
The panel - composed of three independent members from varying backgrounds including coaches, ex-players or media personnel, plus one rep from the SFA and another from the SPFL - was split with a three-to-two verdict.
In the description of the incident on the SFA's site, it reads: "Two panellists believed that a penalty should not have been awarded.
"The panel unanimously agreed VAR was correct not to intervene, as this was a subjective decision."
In the same match, the panel concluded that Beaton was correct in not showing a red card to Mohamed Diomande for catching Nicky Cadden high.
Meanwhile, in last night's game, the KMI panel supported the on-field decision of no penalty following the coming together between Clinton Nsiala and Simon Murray, with Rangers going up the other end of the park and scoring immediately after.
