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Hibernian v Aberdeen ref watch: Willie Collum had a busy day at Easter Road

From a tight offside decision to disallowed goals, a handball offence for a penalty and a possible retake, the official faced several big calls on Sunday.

Aberdeen's Jamie McGrath (R) and Hibernian's Joe Newell compete for the ball at Easter Road. Image: SNS
Aberdeen's Jamie McGrath (R) and Hibernian's Joe Newell compete for the ball at Easter Road. Image: SNS

Willie Collum had a busy day as he made several big calls in Aberdeen’s 2-0 defeat by Hibernian at Easter Road – but did he get them right?

We start off with the opening goal, Dylan Vente would have the easiest of finishes after being set up by Australian international and Aberdeen native Martin Boyle.

There were appeals for offside and it did appear to be a tight call. A VAR check was to follow, which confirmed the goal.

It is important to remember that if you are behind the ball then you are onside.

This includes if you are past the last man or slightly ahead of the player passing the ball to you.

As long as you remain behind the ball, then you are not offside. The goal was correctly awarded, a good decision from the assistant referee.

A foul on David Marshall?

The Dons thought they had gotten themselves back into the game in the second half after a James McGarry strike was ruled out.

The goal was disallowed for a foul on former Scotland goalkeeper David Marshall.

I think this was correctly ruled out, although I do think in general goalkeepers are over protected in football.

Marshall clearly gets to the ball and the contact from Ester Sokler results in him losing control of the ball.

I certainly think on this occasion there was more than enough for a foul to be given.

I enjoyed the fact the referee allowed play to finish before whistling and awarding the free kick.

This allows VAR to do its job correctly and review the incident. It is crucial that referees aren’t too quick to whistle, especially with decisions inside the box.

I thought this was good and effective refereeing, to hold off that few extra seconds allowed the referee to potentially correct his decision if it had been wrong.

The penalty decision

Aberdeen were then awarded a penalty, following a handball from Lewis Stevenson.

For me it was a handball, I don’t think there could be any argument against it.

His arm is outstretched and in an unnatural position, by the laws of the game it is a penalty.

Although, I do understand the argument surrounding the idea of what is he supposed to do?

The ball comes at him from a close range and almost catches him off guard.

Handballs are always going to be heavily contested in the game of football with the current laws.

Should the Dons’ spot kick have been retaken?

Bojan Miovski would then have his effort saved by David Marshall, but was the keeper’s feet on the line?

It looked a tight one, the angle shown was very hard to tell. In my opinion, unless it is obviously off the line, then the save should count.

You don’t want to be retaking penalties for slightly being off the line.

For example the penalty retaken last season against Hibs was enough off his line to warrant a retake.

In this example I think one angle looks like he’s off it, the other looks like he’s still on it.

Overall, I thought Willie Collum had a good game, especially when it came to the big decisions.

I also thought he was excellent when it came to following the VAR procedure.

Finlay Elder was a registered referee for six years and a category 5 official from 2019, with experience in the Highland League, Juniors and Club Academy.

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