The Scottish FA have informed St Johnstone that referee Matthew MacDermid did not blow for a foul before Rangers' Cyriel Dessers scored the opening goal during Saturday's Premier Sports Cup match at Hampden Park.
MacDermid gestured that he believed Dessers had impeded Jack Sanders just before the Dutch striker found the net early in the second half.
Several players from St Johnstone were convinced they heard a whistle, which they argued should render the subsequent play invalid.
However, after being summoned to the pitch-side monitor by Greg Aitken on VAR duty, MacDermid reviewed the footage and ultimately gave Rangers the goal, concluding that Dessers had not committed any foul.
Philippe Clement's team went on to win the clash 2-0, with Ross McCausland adding to Dessers' earlier strike in stoppage time.
Despite the SFA maintaining that VAR protocols were followed since the referee did not blow his whistle until after the goal was scored, St Johnstone expressed skepticism about this account and ordered a meeting with refereeing chiefs on Monday morning.
Craig Levein's side were granted that request and the governing body carried out a review of the officials' audio regarding the incident.
The referees' department then confirmed in a meeting with the Perth Saints this afternoon that MacDermid acted correctly.
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Levein was utterly bemused at the verdict as he outlined his perspective following the last-16 League Cup defeat.
"What the f**k happened there?” said the St Johnstone manager. “Anybody know? Anybody help me with it? I didn’t speak to the referee, what's the point? I've been there a hundred times and I end up getting fined and then doubling my fine and then doubling it again.
“Some of them said he blew the whistle. I'm not being funny, but how could you hear? I don't know. I even tried to listen back to it on the footage and all the rest of it. I can't tell.
“I thought it was a foul for us. I thought that Jack had been tripped by Dessers and that's why Jack was on the ground. And that's why Dessers still had the ball. So I thought there's no danger here. They're going to rule this out because Jack's been fouled. That was what I thought.
“Everybody stopped because of one or two things. Either they've stopped because they heard the whistle or they've seen the referee giving us a free kick. And then of course what makes it worse because the players are then really frustrated and say stuff to the referee they end up getting booked.
“I think the referee's made a mistake. That's what I think. And I'd love him to come out afterwards and just say, look I've got that one wrong. I'm going to get in trouble if I keep going. I find it very difficult to understand what happened and the logic behind that.”
