Aberdeen battled to a 0-0 draw with Hearts in a Pittodrie Premiership meeting lacking any consistent quality – including from a refereeing perspective.
The man in the middle for the game was Steven McLean, being assisted on VAR by John Beaton.
The officials’ first big decision of the game came in the fifth minute.
A Topi Keskinen ball into the box for Aberdeen was clearly blocked by the hand of Jamie McCart.
McLean only awarded a corner, much to the annoyance of the home crowd.
Having since seen a replay, the ball ricocheted off McCart’s foot first, so with the current guidelines, no penalty was the right decision.
Referee McLean’s inconsistent use of ‘wait and see’ protocol
I thought ref McLean was incredibly inconsistent throughout the game – the most glaring example being his use of the “wait and see” approach.
Since VAR has been introduced, referees are supposed to let play continue when it comes to potential goalscoring opportunities, with technology there to help them pull things back due to fouls/other infractions if needs be.
It is now common practice.
But, in first half, Aberdeen were breaking down the wing on a counter, with left-back James McGarry racing through on goal – a real opportunity for the Dons.
However, McLean blew after judging Reds new boy Jeppe Okkels to have fouled Hearts midfielder Cammy Devlin off the ball.
It was frustrating, as the foul given was a soft one and, by not letting play continue, the referee does not allow VAR to do its job.
Then, just five minutes later, there was a clear foul by an attacking Hearts player in the Aberdeen box.
On this occasion, McLean let play continue, with Hearts having at least a couple of attempts on goal before play was pulled back back for the foul.
You could not be more inconsistent if you tried, and I thought this was very, very poor refereeing.
Penalty call was correct… but shouldn’t cover up bad display
Hearts were awarded their first penalty of the Premiership season in the dying embers of the game at Pittodrie.
McLean was spot on with his decision – it was a clumsy challenge by Sivert Heltne Nilsen on Kenneth Vargas. And you could tell from his reaction Nilsen knew it.
Overall, though this late penalty – which Ross Doohan saved expertly – was correct, it should not be ignored McLean had a very poor game.
He made some baffling decisions for both teams – including comically missing Aberdeen’s Keskinen taking James Penrice’s legs from under him using his head as the visiting player tried to drive into the Dons box early doors.
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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