SFA admits ref errors that cost Hibs top six
Future of players and manager is now on the line
Hibs were the victims of two season-defining VAR cock-ups – including a derby penalty call that robbed them of a huge win at Tynecastle – during the run-in to the Premiership split, according to the latest SFA review. But there’s been no repeat apology to the club for another series of disastrous calls.
The authorities admitted that referee Kevin Clancy was wrong to award Hearts a penalty, despite reviewing the incident on a pitch-side monitor, in the 1-1 draw with Hibs in Gorgie back in February. Nick Montgomery had been incensed by the decision to penalise Will Fish when Kenneth Vargas hit the deck in the penalty area with the visitors 1-0 up, with the Yorkshireman branding it ‘an injustice.’
It was also confirmed that Hibs should have been awarded a penalty in the hugely damaging 2-1 home loss to St Johnstone that plunged them into the bottom six with just one game remaining. The review found that Dimitar Mitov had fouled Emiliano Marcondes with the game still goalless.
Hibs reported earlier this season that the SFA had apologised to the club for a referee missing a clear handball by Aberdeen’s Nicky Devlin in a 2-2 draw at Pittodrie in February. The Easter Road club, having publicly voiced their concerns over officiating this season, have declined to comment on the latest insights into the human failings of a high-tech system.
The SFA statement released yesterday showed no sign of a changing attitude at Hampden, with the authorities talking up the overall success rate, saying: “90.3% of on-field decisions are considered correct by the IRP, increased to 97.8% when including VAR interventions. Scottish FA Referee Operations shared these statistics to the Premiership clubs on Wednesday morning as part of an update on the performance of VAR in Scotland.”