The Hoops thought they had taken the lead through Daizen Maeda in the first half of the Scottish Cup clash
Former SFA officials Des Roache has played down fan concerns that Celtic’s no goal against Rangers was chopped off by an “obstructed’ VAR angle.
With the Scottish Cup showdown level, Daizen Maeda appeared to have sent the visitors into the lead. The forward bundled the ball out of the reach of Jack Butland after Liam Scales nodded the ball on.
While the on-field officials initially green lit the goal at Ibrox, Andrew Dallas and the team in the VAR room then drew the lines and chopped off the goal with the Irish defender judged to be offside. Replays of the incident showed a cluster of bodies for both sides as Luke McCowan whipped in a cross from the right flank onto the head of Scales.
Some fans questioned the angle that the VAR room had of the incident, with one noting on social media “you can’t see players behind Scales from this angle”. But former whistler Roache has backed Dallas and the off-field officials.
Roache said: “The offside was correctly called for the chalked-off goal. Scales came back from an offside position and impacted the game with the knock on header.
“It was a good call from Andrew Dallas on VAR. Some fans expressed concern on social media about obstructed view on the TV angle Premier Sports presented, but I have no concerns about that.
“You can clearly see he was offside – no issue there at all.”
Neil Lennon on Premier Sports felt it was a close call for the team in Clydesdale House. The ex-Celtic boss and midfielder said: “It looks like his left foot is maybe offside. I can only assume it is. It’s so tight.”
Former Hoops’ star Charlie Mulgrew was definitive on the flashpoint, stating: “He was offside.
“It was one of the rare times Celtic had a form of control in the game. They get a couple of corners, but Scales unfortunately his left leg is just offside when the ball comes in the box.”
Get more Daily Record exclusives by signing up for free to Google’s preferred sources . Click HERE.
Tune in to Hotline Live every Sunday to Thursday and have your say on the biggest issues in Scottish football and listen to Record Sport’s newest podcast, Game On, every Friday for your sporting fix, all in bitesize chunks.
Follow Record Sport on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for all of the up-to-the minute breaking news, video and audio on the SPFL, the Scotland national team and beyond.
You can get all the news you need on our dedicated Rangers and Celtic pages, and sign up to our newsletters to make sure you never miss a beat throughout the season.
We’re also on WhatsApp where we bring all the latest breaking news and transfer gossip directly to you phone. Join our Rangers community here and our Celtic community here.
