Lee Johnson has accused of VAR of bringing a 'subliminal bias' after Hibs fell foul of a penalty against them in a sobering 4-1 loss to Aberdeen.
A first half largely dominated by his side soon turned sour as eight minutes of stoppage time was added as three calls were made by ref David Munro with help from Clydesdale House. First, Luis Lopes was ruled to be onside after initially being ruled off, and David Marshall was then deemed to have fouled him inside the box in the aftermath.
Hibs' number one saved Bojan Miovski's initial spot-kick but was penalised for coming off his line too quick, and the striker converted at the second attempt. Aberdeen went on to win comfortably thanks to Miovski's double alongside Ylber Ramadani and Leighton Clarkson goals, cancelling out Mykola Kukharevych's strike turned from offside to on by VAR. But Johnson says that as soon refs head for the monitor, it means only one thing over debatable calls.
He told Sportsound: "I didn't feel it was clear and obvious and it took an age to get through. If it takes that long, it's probably not, but I suppose I am bias in that sense.
"The one he's off his line you can't really argue with as that's the rule. I think that (going to the monitor) goes with a subliminal bias as he's hearing he needs to check a decision.
"If you look at the numbers, for every 1,000 times the ref has gone to the VAR screen, maybe 998 of those they've stuck with the programme from inside. "
On his side's performance, he added: "We concede a disappointing second and third goal and that is down to us. My team and myself because we weren't physically strong enough or switched on enough in the box.
"The players can come in and hold their hands up, which they do; which means they’re honest but it’s not good enough - we’ve got to win football matches.
"It’s a club with prestige, it’s a club that expects to be up there and those soft underbelly tones are not good- enough."
