Chris Sutton and John Hartson weren’t exactly impressed by some of the decisions made by the VAR team today in Celtic’s victory over Hearts.

Led by gaffer, Ange Postecoglou, Celtic went on to defeat Hearts 4-3 at Tynecastle earlier today. Securing all three points extends Celtic’s lead at the top of the table, so may prove to be critical in the long run. However, some extremely questionable decisions made by VAR ruffled a few of Sutton and Hartson’s feathers as they seemed somewhat controversial.

Greg Taylor celebrates scoring the winning goal of the game during the cinch Premiership match at Tynecastle on Saturday October 22, 2022. Photo Jane Barlow

Most clear of which was during the first half, where Michael Smith clearly handled in the box but Nick Walsh refused to point to the penalty spot. Even after consulting with VAR, the penalty was still not given even though there was clearly hand-to-ball contact.

In extreme contrast, Walsh awarded Hearts with two penalties during the match, something that Hartson picked up on and discussed with SkySports. Hartson said…

“You find ways of winning games. You can’t always be at your scintillating best to win a game and they’ve had to dig in today against a real, strong Hearts team. Hearts are very difficult to beat here at Tynecastle, notoriously it’s a really tough place to come. I think Ange isn’t in favour of VAR, but it’s here to stay.

“I feel he probably had to beat two teams today. He had to beat Hearts and he had to beat the VAR team because a couple of VAR decisions went against Celtic. You can clearly see his frustration.”

Hearts v Celtic Cinch Scottish Premiership 22/10/2022. Referee Nick Walsh awards a penalty to Hearts after checking with VAR during the Cinch Scottish Premiership match between Heart of Midlothian and Celtic at Tynecastle  on 22 October 2022. Photo Malcolm Mackenzie PSI-

Furthermore, Chris Sutton took to Twitter to voice his feelings about some of the decisions made earlier today. The Celtic legend joked that Celtic defeated two opponents in today’s clash (Hearts and VAR).

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