SFA panel has say on John Souttar Rangers handball, possible Hibs penalty retake and controversial Celtic call

Key match incidents reviewed by weekly panel

A Scottish FA panel has ruled that Rangers manager Philippe Clement was wrong to claim that Hibs were incorrectly awarded a penalty against his side for a John Souttar handball.

The Rangers defender was retrospectively penalised by referee Nick Walsh following a VAR check for using a raised elbow to block an attempt on goal from Hibs striker Mykola Kukharevych on the stroke of half-time at Ibrox last Sunday.

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Clement claimed afterwards that the penalty decision was incorrect, stating: “In that short distance, I've seen this situation in the last couple of weeks, where people have had their arm out of their body, and there was no penalty. It was discussed before the season not to give those easy penalties from short distance in those moments. For me, it's not a penalty."

However, the Key Match Incident Panel, made up of five people from within Scottish football which meets weekly to examine major incidents from the previous weekend's matches before voting on whether the on-field decision and any subsequent VAR interventions were correct, unanimously agreed with the decision to award a spot kick.

Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland saves a penalty taken by Hibs striker Mykola Kukharevych. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland saves a penalty taken by Hibs striker Mykola Kukharevych. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)
Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland saves a penalty taken by Hibs striker Mykola Kukharevych. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group) | SNS Group

They also found that the decision not to further punish Souttar with a red card was correct "as the defender wasn’t denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity due to the position of the Rangers goalkeeper".

Jack Butland saved the resultant spot-kick to prevent Hibs from equalising as Rangers went on to claim a 1-0 victory thanks to Tom Lawrence's 33rd-minute strike, which also went to VAR after being incorrectly flagged offside.

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There were some suggestions that Butland may have moved off his line before the ball was struck by Kukharevych but the KMI Panel determined that no retake was required as "part of the Rangers goalkeeper's foot was still on the line when the penalty was taken".

The panel also reviewed the yellow card shown to Hibs midfielder Nectarios Triantis for a strong challenge on Rangers defender Robin Propper, which was checked for a possible red card by VAR but no further action was taken. The report stated that "the panellists believed that the referee was right not to show a red card for the challenge", adding "three panelists believed the referee was correct to show a caution, however, two panelists believed that no sanction should have been given and that this challenge should be deemed a good tackle".

Referee Don Robertson consults the VAR monitor before disallowing Daizen Maeda's opening goal for Celtic against St Johnstone. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)Referee Don Robertson consults the VAR monitor before disallowing Daizen Maeda's opening goal for Celtic against St Johnstone. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)
Referee Don Robertson consults the VAR monitor before disallowing Daizen Maeda's opening goal for Celtic against St Johnstone. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group) | SNS Group

Elsewhere, the panellists were split over the decision to disallow what would have been an opening goal for Celtic scored by Daizen Maeda in the 6-0 win over St Johnstone on Saturday.

Maeda's volley was awarded on the field of play by referee Don Robertson but he changed his decision to disallow the strike following a trip to the VAR monitor after being shown a foul by Celtic defender Aaron Trusty on Saints winger Graham Carey in the build-up.

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"The panel discussed this decision at length with the majority (4:1) deeming the onfield decision incorrect," the report stated. "One panellist believed that the goal should have stood. The majority (4:1) believed VAR was correct to intervene and disallow the goal."

In total, the KMI panel reviewed 25 incidents from the six William Hill Premiership matches over the weekend of September 27 and 28 and found that no incorrect outcomes were reached.

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