A Glasgow Derby is never without its controversial decisions or flashpoints whenever Celtic meets Rangers.
The season’s first encounter had a Rangers goal rightly chalked off for a foul on Gustaf Lagerbielke by Cyriel Dessers.
The 2-1 win at Celtic Park was consumed by a Leon Balogun red-card offence and the ensuing controversy surrounding that.
The 3-3 draw at Ibrox was also overshadowed by a Fabio Silva dive that earned Rangers a penalty and a subsequent point in the title race.
And yesterday was no different.
O’Riley’s penalty VAR confusion
As well as John Lundstam’s red card, Celtic were awarded a second-half spot-kick after the Celtic midfielder was tripped my Rangers’ Mohamed Diomande.
Match referee, Willie Collum immediately pointed to the spot and after being urged by VAR to have another look, the SFA whistler stuck by his original decision.
But it was the intervention of VAR that left O’Riley feeling really perplexed.
O’Riley said [The Sunday Post print edition page 68], “I was really confused because I thought the pen was really obvious.
“I got clipped by Mo Diomande and I thought it was really obvious.
“I don’t know if VAR tried to overturn it, but I thought it was quite strange.
“There are no excuses when you miss a penalty. But of course, it was quite a long wait.”
For me, it was a stonewall penalty. There was absolutely no doubt that Collum got his decision correct to for VAR to step in and urge a review when there was no clear and obvious error was quite baffling.
In the end, it didn’t really matter because Jack Butland saved the penalty but it does highlight, once again, just how badly the officials can use the refereeing technology at times in our game.
Hopefully, the SFA will take this summer to further train our VAR experts so that we don’t see the same mistakes being made next season because as it stands right now, VAR is having an adverse effect on the enjoyment and outcomes of far too many matches in the Scottish Premiership.
