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Ref Watch: Aberdeen left to rue the one major decision the officials got wrong in Darvel cup shock

Bojan Miovski is shown a yellow card against Darvel. Image: SNS.
Bojan Miovski is shown a yellow card against Darvel. Image: SNS.

Darvel against Aberdeen had the potential to be a giant killing but not many would have expected the Dons to go down to the West of Scotland side.

In possibly the most shocking result in Scottish Cup history, Darvel triumphed 1-0 in the tie. Without the use of VAR, how did the refereeing team get on?

We start with the goal which sealed the victory for Darvel. Jordan Kirkpatrick fired the ball past Joe Lewis into the Aberdeen net, thanks to a deflection. When the goal was first scored I thought there could have been a potential offside.

When a player is coming back into play from an offside position, normally in a second phase attack, they can be incredibly difficult calls to make.

From the replays it was clear that Hayden Coulson was just playing the Darvel player onside, as the Aberdeen defence fell asleep to allow him the space to score.

Correct calls on penalty shouts

There were two penalty shouts for Aberdeen in the second half as they pushed desperately for an equaliser. The first came from a Johnny Hayes cross which struck the hand of the Darvel defender.

Initially, I thought the hand of the Darvel player was in tight to his body and no penalty was the correct call. With the replays it was clear to see this, the arm is not in an unnatural position so no penalty was spot on.

The second penalty shout came from Ylber Ramadani as he was ‘fouled’ in the box. Another tight call where, if the Aberdeen midfielder gets to the ball first you’d say penalty.

However, in the replays it clearly shows the Darvel player got a touch on the ball first before the Albanian international. Another correct call of no penalty.

Costly offside decision for the Dons

Aberdeen had the ball in the back of the net through substitute Bojan Miovski, only for the offside flag to be raised.

The offside was given against Leighton Clarkson who latched onto a ball over the top of the defence and squared it to Miovski.

This decision of ‘offside’ was a very poor call, from the replays Leighton Clarkson is clearly onside by at least a yard or two. I initially thought a player must be blocking the view of the assistant but I can’t see an obvious reason as to why he has missed the call.

Bojan Miovski scores but its ruled out for offside during the tie against Darvel. Image: SNS.

It was a big decision in the game which ultimately cost Aberdeen a goal. With VAR the refereeing team would have delayed the call.

Unfortunately for the Dons there was no VAR to allow the officials to correct their clear and obvious error.

Bojan Miovski was definitely behind the ball when Clarkson squared to him so the goal should have stood and would have stood if the game was taking place at Pittodrie.

Despite there being much debate over the use of VAR and how well it works, the offside calls have been pretty consistent.

Overall the officials had a decent game, there were plenty of tough tackles which were rightly given and cautions handed out.

Unfortunately when officials are going from using VAR one week and not using it the next – mistakes will happen.

That’s part of football, no matter what level you are watching.

To disallow a goal is the biggest call you can make as an official, unfortunately for Aberdeen they were on the wrong end of a big call.

You can’t take anything away from Darvel though, the decision was a big call to miss but the non-league side were the deserved winners.

  • Finlay Elder has been a registered referee for six years and a category 5 official since 2019, with experience in the Highland League, juniors and Club Academy. 

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