Watch the Matt O’Riley shirt pull that VAR chose to ignore

There was definitely something odd about St Johnstone’s goal against Celtic yesterday in a match that they lost 3-1.

It sort of summed up the scrappy nature of the SPFL Premiership with about a dozen players bunched around Joe Hart, the Celtic keeper flapping at the ball backed up by the combined height of Greg Taylor and Kyogo Furuhashi with a hoops player trying to clear the ball only to knock it off Diallang Jaiyesimi for the first goal of the game.

Sky Sports replayed the goal while the VAR check was completed, there did seem something odd about it but the consensus was that Joe Hart should have done better, used his height and reach to block out the cross, a repeat of sorts of the goal that Motherwell scored to equalise last week.

A shirt pull on O’Riley as he’s trying to clear the ball at the St Johnstone goal.
Completely ignored by everyone. https://t.co/xT5E4rLAyg pic.twitter.com/JsrEOoCnAg

— Lint (@Zeshankenzo) December 3, 2023

The clip above clearly shows a prolonged pull on Matt O’Riley’s jersey by Dara Costelloe.

Don Robertson can be forgiven for missing it since there was so much going on inside the six yard box but there are no excuses for Kevin Clancy and Dougie Potter on VAR.

As we’ve seen in recent weeks jersey pulling in the penalty box is a free kick, Costelloe’s action clearly impacts O’Riley as he tries to kick the cross away, only to send it towards his own goal.

Unlike in England there will be no comment or explanation for fans why that shirt pull went unpunished.