Ange Postecoglou’s reaction to Fir Park flashpoint that infuriated Celtic fans
Ange Postecoglou was left in the dark about the VAR call that infuriated Celtic fans at Fir Park last night.
In the 59th minute Kyogo Furuhashi threaded a brilliant ball through to Jota who ran through on Liam Kelly then chipped the ball into the net. It looked a brilliant strike which seemed to confirm the points for Celtic.
A VAR call had to be made, it looked a borderline call with Jota appearing to have timed his run to perfection but after a brief review play re-started with a free kick to Motherwell.
There was a sense of puzzlement and anger among the Celtic support, when a long distance fuzzy image was used to justify the decision concerns about David Dickinson’s verdict were multiplied.
Covering the incident Football Scotland reports:
The Portuguese winger looked to have doubled Celtic’s advantage just before the hour mark but it was ruled out by VAR for offside. Jota raced onto a through ball before chipping a stunning effort over Liam Kelly as he ran off to celebrate with the travelling contingent.
But VAR official David Dickinson got involved as he instructed referee Willie Collum to disallow the goal. It looked an incredibly tight decision and Celtic fans on social media questioned whether the correct call was made.
The angles shown on the broadcast were inconclusive and led to uncertainty over the decision. In his post-match interview with the BBC, Postecoglou admitted that he hadn’t seen it back yet but he intimated that offside were the ‘perfect’ time to use VAR.
Postecoglou told the BBC: “It was a great goal, but if it’s offside then it’s offside. I have no problem with VAR, just use it when you need to. That’s the perfect example if that’s offside. I haven’t seen it but it’s a good time to use it.”
Celtic have won all four of their SPFL matches with VAR in use but other than the 3-0 win at Livingston fans are convinced that major decisions have gone against Ange Postecoglou’s side.