Why were no VAR lines shown to prove that Liel Abada ‘goal’ was offside

VAR arrived in Scottish football today, apparently it would take the sting out of many refereeing decisions with cold evidence presented to television viewers.

Instead, today’s first real day of operation confirmed many suspicions.

Celtic had a goal disallowed because Nick Walsh blew too early, a fake delay then took place before Steven McLean backed up the decision. It got even worse when the two match officials denied Celtic a penalty when Michael Smith raised his hand to block a pass from James Forrest.

Ange Postecoglou’s side managed to get 4-3 in front but it only required one more honest mistake to result in dropped points.

In stoppage time Liel Abada was involved in a marginal call, he raced on to put the ball past Craig Gordon but assistant referee, David Roome, a close friend of Bobby Madden raised his flag.

After another short delay Walsh restarted play but Sky Sports never showed the VAR lines to justify the decision. Those lines would have guided McLean on his decision but weren’t shared with Sky Sports or BBC Sportscene.

VAR lines were shown on Sky Sports to justify Lawrence Shankland’s second goal, for reasons known only to Crawford Allan no such evidence was put out to justify disallowing the Abada ‘goal’.

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