Ref Willie Collum won't be marked down despite Nicky Clark's red card being overturned - because the whistler was simply protecting the players on the pitch.
That's the view of former ref Stuart Dougal, who reckons Collum and VAR Nick Walsh made the correct call despite St Johnstone winning their appeal. Clark was shown a straight red card in Saints' defeat to Rangers and many were perplexed at how both Collum and Walsh were able to agree it was a red card, only for an independent review panel to overturn it and downgrade it to a yellow.
But Dougal explains that the appeal panel may have had an alternative view as they are often made up of non-referees who would have seen it a different way. He told the BBC's VARdict: "The review panel is not made up of all referees and ex-referees. Ex-referees can be involved, but you can have ex-players, ex-coaches, some laypeople like sheriffs and lawyers and people with an interest in football.
"From a refereeing perspective, regardless of the overturn...if this happens next week, next month or next year, that will be a red card all day long."
He was then asked if Collum would be marked down by an adjudicator for getting the decision wrong but he said: "Absolutely not. The reason for that is about protecting the players.
"The game doesn't lend itself to players going in so high on an opponent. The Rangers players was just lucky he didn't get a serious injury with how high the studs were.
"The referee will not care too much about the review panel's decision. He'll just go and do his job. The review panel are in there independent of the referee's and the SFA and referees have just got to accept that's what the review panel has said."
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