Nick Montgomery vents VAR frustration as Hibs boss claims officials took 'easy' route by disallowing Boyle strike

Frustrated Nick Montgomery reckons the officials took the easy way out when they chalked off Martin Boyle's strike at Hampden.

Hibs crashed out of the Viaplay Cup thanks to Bojan Miovski's strike, moments after opponents Aberdeen had gone down to ten men through Jack MacKenzie's red card. It could all have been different for Montgomery's team though had a skin-tight VAR call gone their way, as Boyle had his finish early in the second half overturned after a prolonged review.

On-field official John Beaton initially gave the goal, ruling that left-back MacKenzie just played Boyle onside after Will Fish's through ball. But the lines were drawn and it was deemed that Boyle strayed just off - much to Montgomery's frustration. He told Viaplay after the game: "I just watched it back now and there's one defender with his foot in the exact same point as Boyle. These are the disappointing things, when it's that tight, it never seems to go in favour of the attacker.

"If you're going to draw a line there and rule it offside then that's disappointing. I felt he was onside and it was a goal when we were well on top.

"I want to see common sense. If it takes four or five minutes to make a decision, it's obviously not clear and obvious. So if that's the situation, it should go in favour of the attacker. I've always felt that. Deliberating for five or six minutes, and then they can't really make the decision, so the easy decision is to rule it offside. That's disappointing."