BBC presenter Steven Thompson was left dumbfounded by the decision to rule out what would’ve been a third goal for St Mirren against Hearts.
The Paisley side were looking on course for a surprise win over the Premiership leaders at the SMISA Stadium when Miguel Freckleton made it 3-1 on the night.
But within moments the strike was ruled out after a VAR intervention – one that has left pundits and fans alike absolutely stunned.
Nick Walsh on VAR duty called for referee Matthew MacDermid to come to the monitor to review the incident for a possible infringement.
And after checking the replays, MacDermid chopped the goal off after it was adjudged that St Mirren captain Mark O’Hara had impeded opposite skipper Lawrence Shankland from an offside position.
Thompson, who played for St Mirren and captained the club, found the call to be dubious to say the least.
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He was anchoring the BBC‘s highlights programme Sportscene as he described the decision as “utterly astonishing”, a view shared by the pundits on the show.
Celtic hero Jackie McNamara labelled it “baffling” while former Rangers star Neil McCann called it an “incredible decision”.
Thompson began: “VAR said O’Hara was offside and impeded Shankland. Show me where he impeded him?”
McCann replied as the replay ran: “There you go…
“I mean he’s barely brushed Lawrence Shankland and he’s given it offside.
“I want you to look at this here. It’s the merest of touches.
“Now, St Mirren do work blocks to free up people but when Matthew MacDermid goes to VAR and decides he’s taking matters into his own hands, tell me Lawrence Shankland is getting there?”
At this point Thompson exclaimed: “There’s no chance!”
McCann responded: “It’s an incredible decision.”
Thompson continued: “You’re left scratching your head Jackie.”
McNamara then said: “It’s baffling.
“I think when it happened we all said ‘What’s he called it off for?’
“That’s not a free-kick.
“St Mirren will be very angry with that when they see that back because to me, that’s a bad decision from the referee.”
Thompson concluded: “Utterly astonishing.”
After the game, Buddies assistant boss Brian Kerr confirmed the club will be asking the SFA for clarity over the disallowed goal.
He said: “Their interpretation on it was that it was an impact offside on Mark O’Hara.
“We can’t see any contact. We’ve seen a few different angles of it and we’re yet to see an angle that shows us why the goal’s been chopped off.
“Miguel Freckleton, who scores the goal, is clearly onside. And they reckon there’s some kind of contact on Lawrence Shankland.
“We certainly can’t see any contact.
“It’s something that we probably as a club need to speak to Willie Collum about.
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“It’s disappointing, but I’ve got to remember that it was an excellent performance against a top side who were flying high and came here off the back of an excellent result against Celtic.”
The results leaves Hearts six points clear at the top of the Premiership with St Mirren in ninth.
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