Hearts foiled by VAR ‘disgrace’ as head mistaken for hand in 99th-minute Celtic drama

Celtic now only need to beat Hearts in their title decider on Saturday to win the Scottish Premiership title after Kelechi Iheanacho scored a hugely controversial 99th-minute penalty to beat Motherwell.

Hearts secured a comfortable 3-0 win over Falkirk as first-half goals from from Frankie Kent and Cammy Devlin put the league leaders in charge of the game before Blair Spittal ensured they would remain top of the table ahead of a blockbuster finale at Celtic Park.

Meanwhile, Celtic stumbled to a dramatic win over Motherwell.

Martin O’Neill’s side had recovered from Elliot Watt’s opener for Motherwell as Daisen Maeda and Benjamin Nygren’s thunderous strike gave them the lead just before the hour, only for their hosts to level in the 85th minute through Liam Gordon.

At that stage, the defending champions faced needing to beat Hearts by three goals at Celtic Park on the final day to retain their title.

But deep into injury time, Celtic’s Auston Trusty went down clutching head claiming he had been struck by a stray elbow. Referee John Beaton was sent to the monitor and ultimately awarded a spot kick, not for foul play, but a hand ball.

“It’s a disgrace,” said former Hearts forward Ryan Stevenson.

“VAR took six minutes in the recent West Ham v Arsenal game because everyone understood how big a decision it was.

“John Beaton was at the monitor for what, 20 seconds?”

It was 22 seconds in which the same replay was shown twice, then moved back and forward between two or three frames four times and then frozen at the point of contact.

We have no idea how Beaton decided that the ball had conclusively made contact with Sam Nicholson’s hand rather than his head, which might better explain how the ball was propelled 30 plus yards out of his box.

We also have no idea why VAR is even a thing when – as was the case in this instance – the referee only gets a view of the incident from one angle.

“His hand is up, but look at the power he gets on it – that’s a head” is an exasperated revelation we shouldn’t need to be hearing from ex-Hearts striker John Robertson in the VAR age.

Offering some balance in what is across-the-board astonishment at baffling decision, former Celtic defender Darren O’Dea said: “Looking at the footage we’ve just watched, it’s made huge contact with Sam Nicholson’s head because of the trajectory the ball takes. I don’t know how you can conclusively say that is handball.”

You can’t, Beaton can’t, VAR can’t, no one can.

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