Jim Goodwin stands by Hibernian frustration despite ‘productive’ SFA talks

Jim Goodwin revealed he has had a “productive” meeting with referees’ boss Willie Collum but stands by his view of Dundee United’s controversial disallowed goal in the 3-1 defeat by Hibernian.

With the Premiership fixture at Tannadice tied at 1-1, striker Sam Dalby netted with a header only for it to be ruled out for handball following a lengthy VAR check.

Kieron Bowie and Junior Hoilett scored late on to secure a 3-1 win for Hibs and after the game the United boss was fuming, saying: “From all the angles that I’ve seen with my analyst and from the broadcast angles, I can’t see it for the life of me.”

Ahead of the trip to Aberdeen on Sunday Goodwin revisited the incident having spoken to Collum, head of referee operations at the Scottish Football Association.

The Irishman said: “We need to move forward and we need to focus on the next game, which is a huge fixture up at Pittodrie on Sunday.

“Of course, there’s still a bit of a hangover from Wednesday night with the decision that went against us.

“I said after the game if somebody showed me an angle that proved my statement after the game was wrong then I would apologise, but I stand by everything that I said.

“There isn’t a conclusive angle that shows there was any handball and therefore we believe that the goal should have stood and it should have put us 2-1 up in a very important game.”

Goodwin hailed former Premiership referee Collum’s impact in his new role, even as he insisted Dalby’s disallowed goal did not meet the established threshold of a “clear and obvious” error.

“We had a productive meeting with Willie Collum yesterday,” he said. “Willie has been has been a real positive within that department of the SFA. I certainly think things have been better this year in terms of communication and transparency.

“I’m not going to go into too much detail with regards to the type of conversation that we had and Willie’s views, but I am led to believe that Willie will be doing some type of interview with the (Key Match Incident) panel on YouTube later on next week and I think he’ll give his own opinion on that incident.

“I said to Willie that we all had a meeting at Hampden at the beginning of the season and the IFAB (International Football Association Board) rules were all made aware to us and the biggest rule probably is that ‘clear and obvious’ one, that VAR can only intervene with an on-field decision if they have got significant footage that shows there was a clear and obvious error.

“And I think from the audio and from the video angles that we have seen, there is no suggestion of a handball within this Sam Dalby goal.

“So that’s the big gripe for us. We believe that the goal should have stood but there’s nothing we can do about it now.

“I think that’s the message that I’ve been giving to the players, as hard done to as we feel with that big decision, we have to move on.”