SNS GroupHearts were wrongly denied a penalty against Motherwell, according to the SFA’s Key Match Incident panel.
The league leaders were aggrieved not to be awarded the spot-kick in the 66th minute of the 1-1 draw on Saturday when referee Steven McLean was asked by VAR to go to the monitor.
It came after Alexandros Kyziridis went down in the box under a challenge from Tawanda Maswanhise while trying to go short to receive a corner.
The official stuck to his guns, much to the dismay of both Kyziridis and Hearts boss Derek McInnes, who were both booked for their protests.
It would come before VAR controversy swept the Scottish Premiership following a handball penalty incident given in Celtic’s favour on Wednesday to seal a late winner.
It sets up the tantalising final day showdown between Hearts and Celtic on Saturday, where both teams are vying to win the title.
The KMI panel ruled that the on-field decision was incorrect and that referee McLean “should have awarded a penalty”.
The ruling read: “The majority (2:1) of the panel deemed the on-field decision of no penalty to be incorrect.
“Two panel members felt VAR was correct to intervene, while one panel member felt the on-field decision was correct.
“The majority (2:1) of the panel deemed the final decision outcome as incorrect as they felt the referee should have awarded a penalty after being sent to the monitor.”
Meanwhile, the panel found Celtic’s Alistair Johnston had not committed a red card offence during the Old Firm derby after a foul on Rangers’ midfielder Mikey Moore. The Canadian was booked by referee Nick Walsh.
Johnston admitted: “As a defender now, you have to be so smart with every tackle you put in.
“Was I a little bit lucky? Yeah, probably. Was I intending to injure him? No.
“I was just trying to put a hard tackle in as every single fan on both sides of that rivalry would want their defenders to do.
“I caught him. I thought in the moment that I caught him on the top of the foot. It is what it is. In the moment I thought a yellow card was fair.
“If it was ten years ago, I would have said ‘how is that even a foul’? But that is just the day and age now.
“At the end of the day am I lucky I never got sent off? Probably.
“But it’s football and you need to be able to make tackles.
“I’m glad I stayed on the pitch and managed to win that match.”
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