Celtic were denied a second goal against St Johnstone despite VAR having no definitive evidence that the ball had gone out of play.
Martin O’Neill’s side were 1-0 ahead at McDiarmid Park when Haissem Hassan finished from close range after Kasper Høgh headed Sebastian Tounekti’s delivery back across goal.
The goal was ruled out on the field, with the officials deciding the ball had crossed the byline before Høgh made contact.
VAR then checked the incident.
The problem was that the technology could not actually show what happened at the decisive moment.
Sky Sports commentator Ian Crocker explained: “Because the ball went out of the camera frame, VAR had to stick with the on-field decision.”
That is where the frustration comes from.
There was no conclusive footage showing the whole ball had crossed the line.
VAR could not prove the on-field call was correct, yet the goal still disappeared from the game.
If the technology cannot establish that the ball was out, then Celtic are left losing a goal on the basis of an on-field judgement that VAR was unable to verify.
❌ “Because the ball went out of the camera frame, VAR had to stick with the on-field decision”
Celtic had the ball in the net but it was ruled out for the ball going out of play ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/mLDKmwwABh
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) September 9, 2026
It is even more frustrating given what happened against St Mirren at the weekend.
In that game, the original decision was not treated as untouchable.
Four days later, Celtic were told the opposite.
Because the key moment in Perth was missing from the available camera frame, VAR simply stayed with the initial call.
That leaves a basic question.
How can a goal be taken away when the review system has no definitive image showing the offence actually happened?
It does not prove the ball stayed in play.
But it also does not prove it went out.
Celtic ultimately still won 1-0 through Mika Baur’s first goal for the club, so the decision did not alter the result.
That should not make the process any less questionable.
Two Celtic goals have now been ruled out in the space of four days in situations where the technology itself has failed to provide a clear answer.
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2 responses
It’s three Celtic goals Duran’s goal was onside from angles I’ve seen, then Mheuka got decided by the ref having a look which in my opinion Lee was always going to rule out as he’s a dreadful referee, dare I say in the mould of Don Robertson who was the VAR ref on the night. Fast forward to tonight and Hassan’s goal was also deemed out of play despite Hogh looking inside the touchline when he headed it back across goal. Why are we trusting a system that doesn’t have enough cameras? We already know the incompetence of the officials and now we’re using a system not fit for purpose, we either pay to get the complete package or scrap it altogether.
sa.e li is an flagged hough off side just as well he hit the side netting var would have proved him wrong twice before another poor decision that ball could not curl out and in i hope column look at the one he hut side netting it was well on side