Robinson believes fans should be kept in loop during VAR process

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson wants football to follow rugby’s lead by having referees wired for sound.

The Paisley side were awarded a penalty for handball early in their 3-0 win over Livingston on Saturday but only after a three-minute delay.

Most of the wait was because VAR official Gavin Duncan was also checking for a possible offside in the build-up.

And Robinson believes it would minimise frustration and increase transparency if match officials wore microphones like in rugby to explain their decisions to the crowd.

He said: “I thought it was blatant – both me and Davie [Martindale, the Livingston manager] thought it was a penalty.

“We don’t have the advantage of seeing it again but they were looking for an offside at the same time in the build-up to it.

“My point to the fourth official was that everyone [in the stadium] should know that. That’s why they were getting so frustrated.

“In rugby they tell you everything that’s going on and that’s something that could improve the whole VAR system.

“If people know what they’re doing then they’ll know why it’s taking a little bit longer as it seemed an obvious one to me.

“But obviously they were drawing lines and seeing if it was offside in the build-up so you understand that wait a little bit.

“I understood that but the crowd didn’t as they didn’t know that unfortunately.”

Further first-half goals from Tony Watt and O’Hara, again from the penalty spot, had the effect of bumping Livingston down into seventh spot.

But Martindale believes they still have a great chance of making the top six.

He said: “There are still games coming up and I now think this is going to go down to the wire.

“The disappointing aspect for me is that we’ve had one foot in the top six for a while but never taken opportunities to cement our place.

“But the positives are we are still in the mix and still in the fight.

“We’ve still got a great opportunity to get into the top six.”

Follow STV News on WhatsApp

Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country