Willie Collum in Celtic fess up over VAR howler as defiant ref chief defends madcap Rangers incident and 3 others

SFA head of referees Willie Collum has admitted that VAR got a big penalty call wrong during Celtic's first game of the season.

However, the ref chief has launched a defence of a string of other incidents in the opening weeks of the campaign. Brendan Rodgers' side opened their Scottish Premiership campaign against Kilmarnock and ran out 4-0 winners on the day - but things could have been worse for Derek McInnes' side after goalkeeper Robby McCrorie collided with Kyogo Furuhashi as the Celtic attacker looked to control a looped ball into the box.

At the time, the Killie No. 1 avoided punishment with man in the middle Don Robertson waving play on while Craig Napier in the VAR room backed up the referee. However, Collum has now conceded that the match officials got it wrong. Speaking to the SFA's VAR Review, he said: "We believe this is the wrong decision.

"We have coached the referees and the VARs that a penalty should have been awarded here. There are a couple of things I would like to discuss about the clip. Firstly, it is an unexpected free-kick with the way the ball is chipped over the wall and it catches the on-field referee by surprise.

"It is then very difficult for the referee to find an angle around that wall to get a view of the incident, because the referees priority is that if there is a shot there is potential for handball in the wall. So, he has positioned himself correctly to judge that and it then becomes a very difficult decision for him to make on-field.

"The Celtic player clearly gets ahead, wins the ball, touches the ball past the goalkeeper and we then think the goalkeeper's actions are reckless. So for us, this should have been a penalty kick and an on-field review should have been requested and the