John Hartson fears Celtic and Rangers will have to prepare for the title being decided by a refereeing howler.
The former Celtic striker reckons standards of officiating are slipping after another weekend of controversy overshadowed victories for both sides in an otherwise thrilling race to the line.
The Hoops produced a dominant display to beat Livingston 3-1 but video replays showed their first goal came from a corner that should have been a goal kick while Tom Rogic was seen to handle in the lead-up to the second.
The situation was made worse by Livi boss David Martindale claiming referee Nick Walsh over-ruled his assistant and fourth official to award a corner for the opener.
A day earlier Aberdeen boss Jim Goodwin claimed there was a blatant foul on Calvin Ramsay in the build-up to Rangers ' winner at Ibrox.
It comes amid a season where both Glasgow sides have raised concerns about the standard of officiating. Celtic chairman Ian Bankier controversially admitted at their AGM in November that his club had "deep concerns" over the matter and revealed they "make representations on a regular basis" to the governing body.
Rangers fired in an eight-point letter of complaint to the SFA over the quality of ref Kevin Clancy's performance in a January draw with Aberdeen.
Just last week Hibs chiefs contacted the SFA to highlight their concerns over inconsistencies that arose in their draw with Dundee last week.
Now with the title race poised on a knife edge with eight games - including two derbies - to go, Hartson fears is could all be settled by a wrong call from the officials.
He said: “It might well do with the standard of referees.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it was decided by refereeing decisions. I think we all have to get prepared for that.
“I’ve had it myself, two goals against Rangers. I was three yards onside in the League Cup final [of 2003]. I still feel sick every time I look at it.
“I wouldn’t want to be a referee. It is ridiculously hard to get all the calls right. They must rely on their linesmen to help. If the ref’s 50 yards away, or 40 yards, or 30 yards, the linesman should be up to speed if he is on that side.”
Hartson branded claims that Walsh had ignored advice from the side over Celtic’s opener "incredible".
He said: “Well that’s a disgrace. The linesman can see it. That’s not acceptable.
“That is unbelievable to think that.
“That is an incredible thing to do from a referee. If I’ve got somebody in my corner to help me, and he’s seen it and got a better view of it than I have, surely I’m using his help?
“Using that extra pair of eyes. I can’t believe that’s happened really.
“But other than that you go on about the game and the performance and the result and it could have been seven.
"You are clutching at straws really going on about the Rogic handball. The ball was whacked at his hand - how do you get your hand out of that?
“If he is running and the ball smashes against his hand. Rather than talk about Celtic’s brilliant play, and how well they did, we are talking about refereeing decisions.
“Again, you look at the television and see that (Aberdeen’s) Lewis Ferguson got booked for standing in front of a player then five minutes later Joe Aribo does it and doesn’t get booked. All of a sudden, where do you stand on that? It’s like everybody’s going on about ‘Celtic, they’ve got the referee again’ but obviously there is a foul in the build-up to Rangers goal against Aberdeen.
“It’s tit for tat. Get the decisions right and there is none of this going at each other and arguing.
“I think VAR would help, I think it would clear up a lot of really tight decisions. But they have had a lot of problems with VAR down south.
“I think VAR is a good thing because if you can improve the game and help referees in any way that’s a good thing.”
