Dermot Gallagher weighs into Celtic VAR row as Ref Watch pundits gobsmacked over ‘credit’ to officials

Dermot Gallagher sparked uproar on the Ref Watch panel when he defended the decision to penalise Tomoki Iwata for handball against Hearts.

Celtic's 2-0 defeat at Tynecastle was packed with incident and plenty of controversial decisions which have been widely debated in the 24 hours since. The Hoops were given a contentious penalty in the early stages, which Adam Idah missed, before Yang was sent off for an apparent high boot after a VAR review. The big talking point on Monday morning though has been the penalty handball which went against Iwata.

On-field ref Robertson didn't give it, with Iwata looking away from the ball and extending his arms for balance as he came back down. But the ball struck his left arm below the shoulder and after VAR John Beaton called Robertson over for a second look, it was given, and Jorge Grant stepped up to convert it.

Former top whistler Gallagher believes it was harsh on the Japanese star...but defended SPFL officials for their consistency over the handball rule this season. He said: "It was harsh but what you would say is, one thing they've been consistent about in Scottish football this season, any incident like that has been penalised for handball. Harsh, very unlucky. But to their credit, every single one has been given."

But pundits Stephen Warnock and Sue Smith didn't take well to his sympathy towards the official. Warnock cut in, saying: "That's terrible, that's a bad decision," before Smith added: "I don't know what he's supposed to do with his arm. He's coming down, the ball hits him, he has no idea. I don't like that decision at all."

Gallagher was less understanding of Robertson's decision over the Celtic penalty, where Yang went down under a challenge from Alex Cochrane in