Revealed: Huge VAR mistakes that cost Hibs in Scottish Premiership top-six race

Hibs were the victims of two season-defining VAR cock-ups - including a derby penalty call that robbed them of a potentially huge win at Tynecastle - during the run-in to the Scottish Premiership split, according to the latest SFA review. But there’s been no repeat apology to the club for another series of disastrous calls.

The Scottish FA reported yesterday that just 26 Key Match Incidents had been called incorrectly over the course of the season. And Hibs – who missed out on a place in the top six by a single point - received bleak confirmation of their worst fears regarding two major flashpoints.

The authorities admitted that referee Kevin Clancy was wrong to award Hearts a penalty, despite reviewing the incident on a pitch-side monitor, in the 1-1 draw with Hibs in Gorgie back in February. Nick Montgomery had been incensed by the decision to penalise Will Fish when Kenneth Vargas hit the deck in the penalty area with the visitors 1-0 up, with the Yorkshireman branding it “an injustice.”

It was also confirmed yesterday that Hibs SHOULD have been awarded a penalty in the hugely damaging 2-1 home loss to St Johnstone that plunged them into the bottom six with just one game remaining. The review found that Dimitar Mitov had fouled Emiliano Marcondes with the game still goalless.

Hibs reported earlier this season that the SFA had apologised to the club for a referee missing a clear handball by Aberdeen’s Nicky Devlin in a 2-2 draw at Pittodrie in February. The Easter Road club, having publicly voiced their concerns over officiating this season, have declined to comment on the latest insights into the human failings of a high-tech system.

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The SFA statement released yesterday showed no sign of a changing attitude at Hampden, with the authorities talking up the overall success rate, saying: “Following the conclusion of the pre-split SPFL Premiership fixtures in the 2023/24 season, the VAR Independent Review Panel (IRP) have met to consider Key Match Incidents (KMIs). The panel comprises former players, managers and coaches, guided by experts on the Laws of the Game.

“In the opinion of the IRP, based on incidents requested by the panel or submitted for consideration, 26 KMIs have been adjudged to have reached an incorrect outcome since the start of the season. To date, there have been a total of 1181 VAR reviews conducted in the SPFL Premiership. Whilst the majority of these are silent checks of on field incidents which require no intervention, 76 have resulted in on-field reviews (0.4 on-field reviews per match) while another 36 have been factual overturns (i.e. offside, inside/outside penalty area).

“90.3% of on-field decisions are considered correct by the IRP, increased to 97.8% when including VAR interventions. Scottish FA Referee Operations shared these statistics to the Premiership clubs on Wednesday morning as part of an update on the performance of VAR in Scotland.”