MATT Smith has revealed that he and his St Johnstone team mates thought they heard referee Matthew MacDermid blow his whistle twice when Rangers striker Cyriel Dessers scored his controversial goal at Hampden on Saturday.

And the McDiarmid Park midfielder has called for greater communication between players and match officials in the wake of the eventful Premier Sports Cup second round match which the Ibrox club won 2-0.

Craig Levein’s men were incensed when MacDermid – who gave a foul against centre half Jack Sanders after the ball struck the net - allowed Dessers’ second half strike to stand following a lengthy VAR check.

Smith, who was booked for protesting immediately after the decision, was convinced the referee had awarded a free-kick the moment that Sanders went to ground in the visitors’ penalty box.

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“Did I hear the referee’s whistle?” he said. “Well, I thought I did and obviously the gesture was that he was about to give a foul. I saw that he obviously was putting his arm up to give us a foul and then I thought there was a whistle blown before the ball had gone into the net. I thought I heard that. 

“Did he blow twice? That's what we thought. We had a little discussion in the dressing room and that's what it felt like. He spoke to the captain and the captain said he heard a whistle too. But the referee said he didn't blow his whistle so I don't really know where we can go from that.

“If a ref's got his arms in the air and pointing as if he's about to give a foul to us, I think that's an indication that he thinks it's a foul. He's obviously then waited for them to score so I don't know.” 

Smith added: “The way that the ref was putting his arms out, I think he did it twice. He put his arm out twice. So it looked like he was just about to blow, but didn't blow. 

“So it's a confusing situation to be in as a player because you're looking at the ref, the ref's putting his arms in the air, not blowing his whistle. It's just confusing for us as players, you know, and we haven't had that before.”

The Welsh internationalist believes that having open lines of communication between referees and players would help to prevent confusion and ill feeling over contentious rulings in future.

(Image: Steve Welsh - PA) “It's frustrating because we have these meetings before the season about how there's going to be more discussions about the decisions,” he said. “I tried to speak to the ref and got yellow carded. We tried to speak to the linesman too but they don't want to talk to you. 

“I don't know what was going on so it's just frustrating and it's one of those changes again. We've worked so hard for 60 minutes and it's meant to be clear and obvious. 

“I've watched it back and I still think it's a foul on our player. I can't get my head around it. It’s a strange one for us as players because you work so hard for 60 minutes and then it's just like that you lose. 

“The actual decision that they come to? Is it clear and obvious? I just don't think so.  I still don't get VAR. You know, we have meetings before a season talking about decisions are going to be made better and more realistic to a game. But that's not what clear and obvious is in my eyes anyway. 

“It would obviously help everyone if there was that dialogue between players and linesmen. Going forward it would clear up a bit of confusion.

“You speak at the start of the season, they didn't want crowding and I understand that. But as a referee, you surely want to communicate with players for a reason. Explain why they’ve  given a goal - it's just frustrating because there's no communication. 

“We've had a meeting before the season talking about how VAR is going to be a lot better. The referee and decisions are going to be made quicker and sharper, but it's taken three games and here we are. 

“You can't really say too much as I tried to speak to him and was booked. That's the situation we're in at the minute.”

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Smith was disappointed that 2021 winners St Johnstone went out of the Premier Sports Cup – but he feels that they can be proud of their performance against the defending champions.

“I thought at the time Rangers were sort of getting on top of us a bit,” he said. “But we had chances in the game and when you play against the Old Firm, you have to ride your luck a little bit at times.

“I thought we did that up until their first goal but then as soon as that goes in, it changes the game. It’s frustrating, but I think the lads can take positives and we've got to focus on the next game to just keep the positive momentum.”