The Scottish FA's independent Key Match Incident panel has ruled that Celtic should not have been awarded a controversial last-minute penalty against Motherwell.
The decision came during the penultimate Scottish Premiership match at Fir Park, where Motherwell attacker Sam Nicholson was judged to have handled the ball while challenging Auston Trusty.
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Referee John Beaton initially allowed play to continue but overturned his decision after VAR official Andrew Dallas called him to the monitor, taking less than 20 seconds to review the replays.
Kelechi Iheanacho converted the stoppage-time spot-kick to secure a 3-2 victory for Celtic, allowing them to take the title race to the final day, where they clinched the championship with a 3-1 win over Hearts.
Had the match ended in a 2-2 draw, Celtic would have needed to defeat Hearts by three clear goals on the final day to secure the league title.
Panel Verdict
The independent referee panel evaluated the incident and published their formal verdict regarding the controversial handball decision.
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"The majority (2:1) of the panel deemed the on-field decision of play on to be correct," stated the KMI panel verdict.
The panel detailed the split decision among its members regarding how the video assistant referee handled the incident.
"Two panel members felt VAR was incorrect to intervene and the penalty was incorrectly awarded for handball after OFR," stated the verdict.
A single member of the committee disagreed with the majority assessment regarding the necessity of the video review intervention.
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"One panel member felt that VAR was correct to intervene and a penalty should have been awarded," stated the verdict.
