Kris Boyd insists VAR Rangers penalty spots bailed out ref as pundits left baffled

Kris Boyd has declared that VAR should be praised for the two interventions that led to penalties for Rangers during their clash with St Johnstone.

Mohamed Diomande's sizzling strike opened the scoring in Perth before James Tavernier stepped up to score from the spot twice to seal the three points - and move the Light Blues top of the Scottish Premiership. But it took VAR intervention for man in the middle Matthew MacDermid to award the two penalty decisions with Greg Aitken flagging up the incidents from Clydesdale House.

St Johnstone defender Andy Considine flew into a challenge on Dujon Sterling in the box which was initially waved away by the referee - before he reviewed the flashpoint on the pitch-side monitor and Taverner found the net. It was a case of deja vu when Luke Robinson handled Tom Lawrence's cross into the box.

Speaking on Sky Sports, James McFadden was baffled that Considine was not penalised initially: "The referee...I mean he is looking at his assistant to make the decision. And he is looking at the referee to make a decision.

"And then he doesn't make the decision. He is called over to look at it and rightly so the penalty is awarded. Sterling gets there before Considine and eventually we get the right decision, but it was quite funny that it took them so long."

Boyd felt that ref MacDermid should have stepped in before VAR. He added: "He has to make a decision." Celtic hero Chris Sutton: "The first one. What is Considine thinking about making that challenge? Sterling isn't going to go in and score."

And the former Rangers striker Boyd felt that the video technology got MacDermid out of a hole with the second big call of the afternoon. Boyd said: "It's a silly position he gets himself into