Willie Collum: Celtic penalty correct but Hearts were denied at Motherwell

Hearts should have had a penalty in their draw with Motherwell but Celtic were correctly awarded a spot-kick at Fir Park, according to Scottish Football head of referees Willie Collum.

Collum analysed key decisions in the William Hill Premiership title race, which went to the final seconds of the season before Celtic triumphed over Hearts.

The Jambos were denied a spot-kick when Steven McLean went to the monitor after video assistant Greg Aitken flagged up a challenge by Tawanda Maswanhise on Alexandros Kyziridis.

The referee asks if there is a better view of the contact point and adds: “I’ve not seen enough.”

Collum told Sky Sports’ VAR Review Show: “There’s been a bit of debate in refereeing about this in terms of is this a clear error to bring the referee to the monitor.

“But our opinion is, once the referee comes to the monitor, the expected decision and preferred decision here would be a penalty kick.”

Collum backed McLean’s decision not to punish Motherwell’s Emmanuel Longelo for handball in the same game as “really good, accurate on-field decision-making” after the referee ruled the ball hit “above the T-shirt line”.

Collum also backed his match officials over the disputed stoppage-time handball decision against Motherwell’s Sam Nicholson, which allowed Celtic to seal a 3-2 win which put them a point behind Hearts before their title decider. Without it, Celtic would have needed to beat Hearts by three goals to win the league.

Video assistant Andrew Dallas tells referee John Beaton that the ball “definitely hits his hand” and that Nicholson’s arm is in an “unnatural position above shoulder height”.

Collum claimed there was “clear evidence” of handball and backed Beaton’s swift review as the “work has already been done” to determine contact with the hand.

He claimed contact with Auston Trusty, which forced the Motherwell midfielder’s arm up, was irrelevant, because “Sam Nicholson’s hand and arm are already in an unnatural position and then it moves further into an unnatural position”.

He added: “We have been very consistent with handballs when it goes above shoulder height.”

When it was put to him that the hand was right in front of the forehead, Collum said: “When we talk about within the silhouette we talk about a player trying to avoid contact with the ball.”

Collum described another Celtic penalty appeal in the same game as a “really tough decision” after Calum Ward and Daizen Maeda collided, saying he would discuss the incident with clubs.

He backed referee Nick Walsh over the decision to book Celtic’s Alistair Johnston for a foul on Rangers winger Mikey Moore after VAR Don Robertson said: “The contact is mainly on the top of the foot and maybe a very, very small glance above that.”

Robertson was also backed over his decision that the offside Benjamin Nygren was not interfering with play at Celtic’s equaliser, given there was no impact on the line of vision of goalkeeper Jack Butland.

Collum stated that Nygren should have had a penalty against Hibernian, saying: “Josh Campbell completely ignores the ball and it’s a two-handed push.”

But the VAR team was backed for refusing to disallow Hibs midfielder Joe Newell’s goal because of inconclusive evidence of handball.