Michael Stewart skewers 'condescending' Stuart Dougal as Hibs red card verdict has pundit fearing parallel universe

Michael Stewart blasted Stuart Dougal and accusing him of being patronising over his defence of referee Craig Napier and VAR following James Jeggo’s controversial sending off for Hibs at the weekend.

The Austrian was dismissed for a foul on St Johnstone’s Connor McLennan but Lee Johnson blasted the decision and the Edinburgh club have fired in an appeal to the SFA. But, speaking on BBC’s VARdict, former ref Dougal defended the call which sparked a furious response from pundit Stewart who labelled him condescending.

Dougal said of the incident: “If we look at the protocols for VAR - has VAR seen a clear and obvious error? Within the laws of the game, I don't believe he has seen a clear and obvious error. VAR will have seen the referee making a very swift red card decision and people were criticising the referee for brandishing the red card quickly.

“That's good refereeing. He had a great angle, he was out quickly with the card, it saves the St Johnstone players possibly remonstrating with the players. From a refereeing perspective, I thought the referee handled that situation very well. VAR can't get involved unless he thinks it's a clear and obvious error.

“How do we know if it's a clear and obvious error? Let's look at the laws of the game. They're explicit when it tells referees, not just Scottish referees. If a tackle endangers the safety of an opponent - if you're going in studs-up you're running the risk, if you make connection you're endangering the safety of an opponent.

“Is there excessive force? Any player who lunges at an opponent. Jeggo was definitely lunging towards an opponent there. Studs showing. VAR can't get involved there. There's been a lot of criticism in VAR in that game and I think it's misplaced