‘It’s pretty blatant’ - Former referee stunned by VAR’s absence in controversial Rangers goal vs Livingston

Former Grade One Scottish FA referee Steve Conroy admits he was astonished by the lack of VAR intervention after Rangers’ opening goal against Livingston in their Viaplay Cup qurter-final tie on Wednesday night.

The Ibrox side dominated large spells of the contest and Michael Beale’s side opened the scoring after just nine minutes when Abdallah Sima dispossessed Livi defender Jamie Brandon on the left-hand side before racing into the box and curling a brilliant shot high past visiting keeper Shamal George.

However, it appeared Sima had illegally shoved Brandon off the the ball in order to win back possession just before before finding the net and ex-official Conroy declared he was fully expecting Nick Walsh on VAR to review the goal and overturn referee Willie Collum’s on-field decision to wave play on.

The incident left Livingston manager David Martindale feeling “aggrieved” and Conroy told https://www.bestwallet.com: “I have NO idea why VAR wasn’t involved. I was pretty stunned by that. It should’ve been disallowed. My bugbear with VAR is that it gets involved in matters of opinion like ‘is it a shoulder charge?’ and ‘Is it footballing contact?’ That kind of thing.

“But last night was a blatant shove, a clear foul on the defender. At the very least, VAR should’ve been saying to Willie: ‘Come over and have a look, because here’s what I’ve seen’. I can’t think of any reason why VAR wasn’t involved in that. Any VAR official should be looking at that thinking: ‘Well, I’ve seen a clear shove’.

“I think Willie should’ve spotted that, it’s pretty blatant. Yet VAR should’ve helped him because it was SO blatant. With Nick and Willie, there may be conversations. But there are so many things involving Willie and nothing seems to happen to him.

“They (SFA) will come down full square behind him and I’m very sure he’ll not suffer any consequences. Same with Nick who I’ve got a lot of time for, I think he’s a good ref. I think Nick will be alright as well.

“They’re both Teflon-coated. Nick is still relatively young so mistakes can be ironed out with him. But Willie has been doing this for most of his refereeing life and seems to get away with a lot more than most would.”

Reacting to the incident at the time on BBC Sportsound, former Rangers striker Kenny Miller stated: “Sima clearly pushed Brandon and just edges him out of it. There’s no doubt about it there’s a push there. It’s so clear isn’t it?”