John McGlynn has Falkirk players prepared for first VAR experience

John McGlynn revealed his Falkirk players have had a VAR pep-talk ahead of the Scottish Cup semi-final against Inverness – and his message to them is keep going until the whistle blows.

The Bairns are not subject to the system in League One and neither are Caley Thistle in the Championship.

Both teams will get a first experience of it at Hampden Park on Saturday, where the rewards for the victors is a place in the final against Rangers or Celtic in the June 3 final

Boss McGlynn said: “All the Premiership teams had the referees association go out in the summer or October and Tom Murphy (deputy head of refereeing at Scottish Football Association) was here today and he went through it very well.

“It is probably nothing that we didn’t know but it was just a matter of getting the guys along here and going through it like they did with the Premiership clubs before VAR kicked in.

“The biggest thing from what I see is you have to play on.

“It might well be that you think this guy is offside and the flag has not gone up but you need to play on and it might well be that the ball goes out the park a minute later and then you get the offside or something along those lines.

“It could be that someone goes down in the box and you have to play on and all of a sudden it is a penalty claim or it is a handball claim.

“Our guys are used to the referees blowing and making a decision where we need to recognise we need to play on because it could cost you.

“And obviously can’t get in the referees face when he is listening to information coming through from VAR or if he is going to go across and look at the footage to see if he is going to rectify a situation or confirm a situation. You can’t get involved.

“It wasn’t something completely alien, we have seen how it worked for long enough but it will be our first time.

“The only thing that is good about it is it is the same for Inverness.”