Alistair Johnston has called for goal-line technology to be introduced in Scotland - with the defender insisting Celtic's disallowed goal in their 2-1 defeat to Hibernian on Saturday was wrongly chalked off.
Brendan Rodgers' side thought they had made it 2-2 when Daizen Maeda fired in the would-be equaliser in the 83rd minute, but, after a lengthy VAR check, it was deemed the ball had gone out of play before Johnston had put the cross in for Maeda.
The Hoops boss was incensed with the officials after the game, claiming there was no "conclusive" evidence to prove the ball had gone over the line.
Rodgers said on Monday that “we go through the process, we don’t make statements and all sorts of things. We just go through the procedure and the process, which is the club speak to the SFA and just get a feeling of what they think.”
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Canadian right-back Johnston, reflecting on the Easter Road flashpoint ahead of Tuesday’s Scottish Premiership visit from Aberdeen, said: “I thought I got there in time. It felt like one of those ones that I knew was going to be close, but at the same time, I’m often putting crosses in from that exact area when I’m reaching, and that one to me felt like it was in.
“Obviously, the linesman thought it was in as well. Our whole fanbase thought it was in, everyone thought it was in. So we’re just going to wait and hear what the exact explanation was on why it was overturned.”
Johnston added that he felt VAR should only have intervened if there was 100% certainty that the on-field officials had made an error in allowing the goal to stand.
“I think that’s the frustrating part, is that if you want VAR to intervene, and especially on things where it’s either yes or no – it’s objective, it’s not subjective – you need to then obviously have a camera angle that can prove that.”
“And, unfortunately, I think up here that, I’m not sure if it’s just the budget, but we obviously just don’t have enough camera angles to really have 100 per cent certainty on decisions.
“If that’s the case, then you really should stick with what the the officials have made the decision on the field with. I think that’s something everyone can kind of agree on.
“If the money’s there to have the goal-line technology and the cameras and all the different angles, then that would be unbelievable, because you would make sure that you get all those calls 100 per cent correct.
“But at the same time, if it’s not there for whatever reason, then we’ve also got to trust that the people, the refs are of the standard to be able to do their job and trust that they’re doing their job correctly.”
