“Frustrating” – Martin O’Neill’s VAR “problem”

Martin O’Neill has admitted that Celtic’s VAR controversy against St Mirren left him frustrated as he reflected on the weekend’s dramatic win ahead of Wednesday’s trip to St Johnstone.

The Hoops secured a 2-1 victory in Paisley to maintain their perfect start to the Premiership season, but the game was overshadowed by two Celtic goals being ruled out for offside.

One of the decisions involving Shim Mheuka proved particularly contentious, with VAR unable to produce an offside image with lines drawn across both players.

Referee Ryan Lee was instead required to review a freeze-frame at the pitchside monitor without the benefit of the usual offside lines before overturning his initial decision to award the goal.

The decision has prompted debate over whether the original on-field call should have been allowed to stand given the lack of a definitive VAR image.

O’Neill has now had time to reflect on the incident and admitted that he remains frustrated by the situation.

Asked about Mheuka’s overturned goal, the Celtic boss said: “I didn’t agree with him (referee Ryan Lee) but I didn’t see the lines.

“Yeah, I think it’s frustrating in that sense that you think in this particular day and age that you could get lines drawn properly but I think it’s been a bit of a problem here for a while.

“And you know what, some days it’ll work in our favour so I shouldn’t complain. I’m not complaining because we won!” [Celtic Player]

Celtic will now turn their attention to Wednesday night’s trip to Perth, where they face a St Johnstone side that have won both of their home league matches so far this season.

Simo Valakari’s newly promoted side have beaten both Kilmarnock and Hibernian at McDiarmid Park and will provide another test for O’Neill’s unbeaten side.

The Celtic boss will be hoping VAR is not required to take centre stage again. However, after the events of Saturday, nobody will be taking that for granted.