John Beaton was the man in the middle for Rangers vs Celtic today, with the rather unenviable task of taking charge of the big derby.
Much was made about his appointment to this game by the Scottish FA, with hysteria surrounding the announcement.
After a fairly quiet first half, the game sparked into life in the second.
Here’s how we saw some of the major calls in the game…
Connor Goldson handball
Celtic were awarded a penalty after the ball struck Rangers defender Connor Goldson’s outstretched elbow inside the area just after the half-hour mark.
It was missed in real-time, but a VAR check was conducted fairly swiftly after the incident and Beaton was instructed to check it at his pitch-side monitor.
After watching a couple of slow-motion replays, the on-field official awarded the spot kick – a fairly easy call in all honesty given IFAB’s regulations on handball.
Verdict: Correct decision
Fabio Silva penalty
Initially, Beaton was quick off the mark to book the Portuguese attacker for diving. The on-loan Wolves player had come under scrutiny for going down easily, so it was little surprise to see him receive a booking.
However, Nick Walsh on VAR quickly intervened and reviewed the incident involving Alistair Johnston. The Canadian right-back certainly made contact with the forward inside the box, but the 21-year-old seemed to already be on his way to the ground.
So, the question is, was Beaton incorrect to overrule his initial decision for simulation against Silva? We think he should’ve stuck to his guns on this one, but it's right to recognise that this was debatable.
Verdict: Incorrect decision
Disallowed Rangers goal
Moments after the penalty was scored by James Tavernier, Rangers had the ball in the net again as Cyriel Dessers thought he’d equalised.
The stadium, full of home supporters, was totally elated – but this quickly disappeared when it was announced a VAR check was being conducted to potentially rule out the goal.
Tomoki Iwata was fouled by Tom Lawrence in the attacking phase of play in the build-up to the close-range strike.
So, Beaton got the call right to chop off the goal.
Verdict: Correct decision
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article