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Steven Crawford

VAR would have given us the right decision insists Tim McCann

Tim McCann has made a call for some form of VAR to be brought into the Irish League after Glentoran were on the wrong side of what he called a "soft penalty call".

Tuesday night's County Antrim Shield semi-final against Linfield was delicately poised as James Singleton had levelled things up for the Glens midway through the second half.

But five minutes after the equaliser the visitors found themselves behind again as Chris Shields slotted home from the penalty spot after a coming together between Robbie McDaid and Aidan Wilson.

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McCann slammed the decision by referee Christopher Morrison and claimed it would not have been given if VAR was in operation here.

"I'm fed up talking about refereeing decisions but they're being highlighted," he said.

"They got what I would call is a very soft penalty.

"If you're going to start awarding penalties for contact like that we're in for a long season.

"If VAR light is there, or any form of VAR, the penalty is not given, it's just that simple.

"I can only speak for what I saw, but for me it looks like he's thrown himself to the

ground, there's minimal contact there.

"He doesn't give the decision for a few seconds so that tells me he wasn't sure.

"I don't know if he's got a whisper in his ear from somewhere else to say it was a penalty or not."

McCann felt the Glens were not under pressure during the game and insisted the "best team lost" on the night.

"I genuinely believe I thought the best team lost," he said.

"I didn't feel at any stage we were under pressure from Linfield.

"When you come to Windsor Park you expect your goal to be under pressure, but I didn't feel that.

"We gave away a scrappy goal in what was Linfield's first and only attack in the half.

"We hit the bar early doors and we created a couple of other chances, but were disappointed to go in 1-0 down at the break.

"We made a couple of changes bringing Jay and Ruaidhri on and I thought we started to get on top.

"We got the equaliser and had the momentum at that time, but again another refereeing decision has changed the game.

"The penalty came against the run of play, it was just a ball into the box.

"Aidan has done what he's meant to do, he's marking his man and his man falls to the ground, and as I say there's minimal contact."

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