'They want to play with their new toy': Lee Johnson unimpressed by VAR

Both managers pointed to the impact of “new toy” VAR on the match after Aberdeen convincingly overcame Hibernian to leapfrog the Edinburgh side into third place in the Premiership.

The Dons eventually took the lead from the penalty spot through Bojan Miovski after VAR first awarded the kick, then gave the striker a second chance as David Marshall was seen to have moved off his line before saving the first effort.

Miovski netted again after the break and Ylber Ramadani added a third, before Mykola Kukharevych’s VAR-approved goal saw Hibs pull one back. Leighton Clarkson rounded out the scoring with a cheeky backheel.

Hibs boss Lee Johnson was sceptical of the initial award of the spot-kick, commenting: “I’m looking at it from a position of bias, but I don’t think it’s a penalty.

“I think Duk (Luis Lopes) is expecting it. He’s going down early and I think Marsh, in terms of his hands, doesn’t really touch him. If anything it’s the momentum of Duk leaving his leg in, but by that time the ball is off the pitch.

“In my opinion it wasn’t a pen and it’s frustrating for me. I’ve not enjoyed it so far, and even our goal was poor officiating.

“The delay is frustrating and it was ridiculous how long it took to make the decision which proves to me it wasn’t clear and obvious.

“They want to play the game because they’ve got a new toy.”

Aberdeen boss Jim Goodwin added “The first goal in this game was going to be huge. I was a big advocate of VAR and wanted it in as soon as possible. Thankfully today the decision has gone in our favour.

“The first goal in games, especially those as competitive and important as what tonight’s was, was always going to be important and thankfully we got it.

“The main aim of having VAR available is to try and get the big calls right as often as possible. We’re not going to get them all right, but over the course of the season those calls will balance themselves out.

“My concern about the first one was actually whether Duk was offside, so I was relieved that we got past that check and on to the penalty check.

“There must have been contact as there are multiple people with better angles who have come to the decision that it was a penalty.”