Finlay Elder reviews the referee and VAR’s performance in Aberdeen’s gut-wrenching 2-1 defeat in Paisley.
Connor Barron’s incredible strike in the opening minute gave visiting Aberdeen a strong early lead at the SMISA Stadium, especially with Fifa president Gianni Infantino in attendance.
The first major incidents involving the refereeing throughout the match involved VAR checks, most notably an absurdly lengthy penalty check against Dons captain Graeme Shinnie for a challenge within the Reds’ zone.
It was a good challenge; there was undoubtedly touch with the player, but he managed to win the ball, thus there was no final call for a penalty.
This season, there have been far too many VAR assessments that seem to be looking for something to sanction rather than concentrating on blatant mistakes. It wasn’t only the one who was against Shinnie, either.
Ref Nick Walsh inconsistent with cards and fouls
The performance of the officials would not get better.
Zach Hemming, the goaltender for the Buddies, was sent off for a harsh booking after Bojan Miovski charged down to clear the ball upfield.
There was very little, if any, contact, and when referee Walsh produced the caution, Hemming immediately got back up.
Walsh’s use of his yellow card was incredibly inconsistent throughout.
Aberdeen’s James McGarry was booked for his first foul, which saw him haul down his man after being beaten.
In my opinion, it was a yellow – he stopped his man from moving forward and putting a dangerous ball into the box.
However, two minutes earlier, Miovski cleverly roll the ball past Alex Gogic on the edge of the St Mirren box.
The striker would have got a shot away, but was brought down – however, no yellow was given.
Throughout the match there were so many soft fouls being awarded, for both teams, which is fine, but you have to be consistent. The referee severely lacked consistency on these calls, too.
I would’ve liked to have seen Walsh let a lot more go.
It’s Scottish football, teams are going to be physical. Let them get on with it, instead of blowing up for every small push.
Bizarre offside ruling against Bojan Miovski
In the second half, there was also an extremely peculiar offside call made.
When a ball was played forward, Aberdeen striker Miovski was obviously offside.
However, the St. Mirren defender brought the ball down, hesitated, and took two touches before Miovski grabbed it from him.
Prior to this, he did not impede the game; the defender made three touches before Miovski got close!
Penalty call was right, but VAR shouldn’t be making decisions for referees
The most significant event, which started the Buddies’ comeback to win the game, happened in the ninetieth minute, with Aberdeen still ahead 1-0.
Nicky Devlin of the Dons and Toyosi Olusanya of St. Mirren attempted to bring the ball down, but Jamie McGrath produced a fantastic headed clearance at the back post.
Following a clash between the two players, the referee gave the home team a free kick.
When it first happened, I thought it was just two players tangling while vying for the same ball.
That was followed, however, by a four-minute VAR review.
Ref Walsh should have been taken to the monitor to assess the foul and the point of contact, but I was startled by this.
Clancy, a VAR official, plainly informed Walsh that a penalty was to be awarded.
It was unquestionably in the box after watching a replay of the incident.
In my opinion, the St. Mirren player makes the first move—he really kicks Devlin in the leg, not the other way around.
However, I can see why a fine was imposed.
But the referee ought to have desired and been obligated to watch the video himself.
It demonstrates that the referee is still in charge of making decisions and lends credibility to the decision-making process.
The way that VAR is officiating games is becoming increasingly annoying.
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