John Beaton- SFA own up to Ibrox ‘mistake’

The SFA have told Livingston that it was a mistake by John Beaton not to award them a penalty at Ibrox.

With the match level at 1-1 a shot from Tete Yeng was heading towards goal from 10 yards out.

Having crossed his body Manny Fernandez raised his left arm to deflect the ball away from goal.

‘MISTAKE’

Referee Ross Hardie decided to play on, in the VAR studio John Beaton and Chris Rae knew the seriousness of the situation. They knew about the campaign launched on the back of the Auston Trusty booking. The other issues ignored from the League Cup semi-final.

Beaton decided not to Apply the Laws of the Game.

The SFA have contacted Livingston about a mistake. No explanation has been given as to why Beaton and Rae with multiple camera angles decided not to apply the Laws of the Game.

Someone within the VAR room decided to contact BBC Scotland to lie to them that the ball had struck Fernandez on the body before the defender used his arm.

Four days after the match Chairman Calvin Ford told the Livingston website:

I wanted to express how frustrated I am, like all of you, on the well documented handball decision that we weren’t awarded a penalty for at Ibrox on Saturday.

It was a huge moment in the match, particularly having just levelled things moments before, and we firmly believe we should have been awarded a penalty and with it, a very good chance to take the lead.

We held lengthy conversations with the SFA this week, and the incident has officially been recognised as a mistake. We should have received a penalty. While the easy road would be to dwell in the anger and frustration, we must now put this behind us and move forward.

There appears to be no punishment for Beaton, who, like Willie Collum is a member of the Lanarkshire Referees Association. The Head of Refereeing at the SFA will be in close contact with Gordon Duncan over burying the incident. By Sunday it barely rated a mention in legacy media circles.

On Saturday Beaton will referee the match between Dundee and St Mirren.

DOUBLE STANDARDS

In February of this year, on VAR duty, Alan Muir decided to disallow a goal from Daizen Maeda with no evidence to back up the move.

Muir has been removed from VAR appointments but it seems that Collum has decided against dealing with Beaton in the same way.

The man from the Crown Bar in Bellshill has refereed eight SPFL Premiership matches this season.

Celtic fans will be watching his future appointments even more closely at his appointments and decisions in future.

Livingston are sitting in bottom place in the SPFL Premiership as a result of Saturday’s defeat at Ibrox.

There is no VAR Review planned in the coming weeks. It is highly unlikely that the SFA will release the audio involving Beaton.