VAR has McInnes in a rage as Saints hold on for victory
KILMARNOCK manager Derek McInnes was furious that his side were denied an equaliser when referee Craig Napier disallowed Liam Donnelly’s 77th-minute leveller after consulting VAR.
McInnes was also unhappy with the official’s decision to downgrade James Brown’s red card to yellow for a foul on Donnelly after a near four-minute delay while he studied reruns of the second-half incident.
He said: ‘I’m really disappointed the goal was ruled out. There was no foul on the keeper, and if there was any foul on Stevie May, the contact was minimal. The keeper should punch the ball. But he tries to catch it and spills it, so the goal should stand. There wasn’t enough for a free-kick.’
Referring to the controversy surrounding Brown’s challenge, McInnes added: ‘I am not here to want players to be sent off. It could be a yellow, it could be a red, it’s on the referee to interpret it. But to take nearly four minutes to make the decision suggests it’s not a clear-and-obvious error.
‘We were told VAR would only get involved for that. But in defence of the ref, he was given the same angle of the tackle for three-and-a-half minutes. We were told there would be different angles of incidents but he kept getting the same one.
‘It was harsh on him. He had to get involved with VAR and came to the decision, but I disagreed with him.
‘Whether he’s looking for reasons to suggest or he’s wrong or he’s trying to justify the red, he made the decision. He deemed it was a red and if VAR wasn’t here, you’d maybe say it was fair or harsh.
‘That took four minutes, a minute to sort the disallowed goal, the physio was on twice and there were eight subs — and we only got six minutes added on (at the end).’
It was Killie’s first defeat in six matches and the first time Saints have notched up back-to-back wins this season to climb to seventh in the table while their opponents remain in 10th spot, three points above Ross County and Dundee United.
Kilmarnock had hardly broken sweat by the time they found themselves a goal down, albeit in unfortunate circumstances.
In-form Stevie May appeared to be in the mood once more when he gathered a pass from Brown on the left side and teed up a shot. It was unclear whether the striker’s effort was going wide before Ash Taylor suffered the misfortune of deflecting the ball with his ankle past his own keeper with less than four minutes on the clock.
The Kilmarnock players quickly regrouped and Innes Cameron sent a header over the crossbar after 22 minutes, before Kerr McInroy sent a shot just wide from 30 yards.
While Saints appeared reasonably content to sit on their lead, Kilmarnock were let down by a lack of a cutting edge to their play.
The visitors were also assisted by Alex Mitchell’s reckless pass-back five minutes after the restart that put Remi Matthews under pressure once again at the expense of a corner kick and a save from a McInroy shot.
Despite the intervention of VAR after an hour having saved Saints from going a man down, they initially showed no greater sense of urgency until May once again took a hand in matters after 74 minutes.
But this time he fluffed his lines when Drey Wright delivered from the right to the back post, heading well wide of the goal.
Kilmarnock thought they had equalised with 13 minutes remaining when Donnelly bundled the ball over the goal-line but the referee signaled a foul against May and his initial judgment appeared to be confirmed by VAR.