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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Ewan Paton

Referee praised for VAR U-turn during Celtic's win at Ross County

Dermot Gallagher has heaped praise on David Munro for his decision to overturn his original decision to book James Brown during Celtic's win over Ross County at the weekend.

The on-field official initially cautioned the right-back for his awful challenge on Celtic winger Yang inside the opening 10 minutes in the Highlands. Replays showed that as the South Korean attacker nipped in front of Brown, the County defender caught him high above the ankle with his studs. 

VAR reviewed the incident and advised Munro to watch the tackle back at the pitchside monitor. After looking at the screen the referee cancelled the booking, instead sending Brown off.

Appearing on Sky Sports' weekly segment on a Monday morning called Ref Watch, former Premier League referee Gallagher insisted Munro was totally correct to change his mind after allowing the VAR process to carry out the necessary checks.

On Brown's red card, Gallagher said: "100 per cent the right decision when you set in on the replay". 

The 3-0 win for the champions in Dingwall was full of VAR stoppages, but this was one of only two reviewed on Sky's show.

Liam Scales had an early strike ruled out after Oh was adjudged to have fouled Jordan White in the build-up to the goal by the referee. This wasn't mentioned on the show. 

Neither was Celtic's penalty claim after Will Nightingale grabbed a handful of Oh's jersey inside the County box. 

The only other incident shown was the correct offside call on Daizen Maeda in the build-up to Oh's disallowed goal later in the first half.

Manager Brendan Rodgers was especially miffed at the call to rule out Scales' goal early in the game.

Rodgers said: “We created a lot of chances with some goals disallowed which I’ll have to see again, especially the offside and even the one before that, early on, where there’s two guys jumping for the ball and the ball lands and we finish and it’s given as a no goal. So I don’t see that as a good decision."

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