What would VAR say about Kyle Lafferty's Kilmarnock penalty award as IFAB rules leave wiggle room

It hopefully will be a thing of the past after Friday, but there was another controversial decision in Tuesday night’s Premier Sports Cup quarter-final.

Kilmarnock hosted Dundee United at Rugby Park, with the two Premiership strugglers vying for a place in the semi-finals and the trip to Hampden that comes with it. And it was the hosts who made a bright start, taking the lead after just eight minutes, but it was down to a hotly contested penalty.

Kyle Lafferty saw his shot cannon back off Liam Smith's arm inside the penalty area. There was little the United defender could do to get out of the way, and even had his back turned when attempting to either block or get out of the way of the Northern Irishman's powerful effort. But ref Kevin Clancy didn;t hesitate in blowing his whistle and pointing to the spot, much to the dismay of Smith and his Tangerines teammates.

Lafferty made no mistake from the spot, confidently slotting past Carljohan Ericsson. His joy was short-lived however, as the visitors went up the park and equalised less than two minutes later. Glenn Middleton curled a fine finish past Zach Hemmings to restore parity and from a United perspective, cancel out the injustice that was done to them on the other penalty area.

But do they have a point? Clancy only got one look, whereas in a few days’ time, all top flight refs will have the back up of VAR, along with an assistant video referee, to review their on-field calls and rectify clear and obvious errors.

The handball rule has caused chaos, particularly down south, with some accidental infringements being penalised and others not, leaving managers, players and fans alike tearing their hair out. According to IFAB, it is an offence if a player:

Deliberately