Celtic penalty debate as two pundits give unanimous verdict and former Rangers striker left 'bemused' by VAR

Two Sky Sports pundits believe the right decision was made in awarding Celtic a penalty via VAR during the cinch Premiership match away at Ross County on Sunday.

Referee Willie Collum awards a penalty to Celtic after checking the VAR monitor during the match against Ross County.

Celtic were awarded a penalty right on the stroke of half time after County captain Alex Iacovitti was deemed to have handled the ball when challenging Cameron Carter-Vickers. Referee Willie Collum was advised to check the touchline monitor by VAR official Steven Kirkland and pointed to the spot thereafter, with Jota converting the kick to put the league leaders ahead at the break.

"It is a penalty,” said Stilyan Petrov, an ex-Celtic midfielder. “It is an unnatural position. Cameron knew straight away it was a penalty.” His opinion was echoed by James McFadden during the half-time break. "You can’t have your arm up like that. There might be an argument about whether it’s a natural or an unnatural position. It’s what VAR was brought in for.”

Kris Boyd was not as convinced and said there are too many inconsistencies with VAR, citing the decision not to penalise St Johnstone’s Andy Considine two weeks ago for what looked like a clear handball. "I’m just bemused, there’s inconsistencies,” said the former Rangers and Kilmarnock striker. “You don’t know what you are going to get. I’m glad I’m not a manager, it must be really frustrating.”