As the dawn of a new season beckoned, there were still plenty of questions being asked about VAR.
With its controversial introduction halfway through last season, the 2023/24 Scottish Premiership campaign will be the first full season of video assistant referees.
Aberdeen kicked off the new season with a trip to Livingston with more than 4,000 Dons fans making the journey to the Tony Macaroni Arena.
It proved to be a busy afternoon for referee John Beaton, which started with a penalty shout just before the 15-minute mark.
Bojan Miovski was attempting to get onto the end of a long ball when Livingston defender Ayo Obileye was clearly holding onto his shirt.
It’s one of those fouls that probably is a foul but not enough for a penalty. In the middle of the pitch they are easy ones to give.
A penalty decision in this instance would have been soft so no penalty was the right call for me.
I thought Aberdeen handled the physicality of Livingston pretty well throughout the game.
As a referee managing those battles can be pretty difficult. It is crucial to stamp your mark on it early and make it clear to players what your tolerance is going to be.
I thought throughout the game both sets of players were getting away with plenty of shirt pulling – something the referee could have handled better.
I don’t think John Beaton was very consistent with his decision making in this department but I can sympathise with him.
When both teams are at it, it is hard to call and the decisions given in these moments depend on a referee’s personal preference.
You either give the foul against who pulled first or let them get on with it and play on.
It felt as if the Livingston players got away with a lot more shirt pulling than Aberdeen, something the referee could have stamped out.
Was Rubezic lucky to avoid a red?
Slobodan Rubezic was making his debut for the Dons, coming across as a strong, physical no nonsense defender.
But was he lucky to stay on the pitch?
He was booked for a late challenge on Livingston forward Kurtis Guthrie, which was a cynical foul.
My first reaction was that it could’ve been a similar challenge to the one made on Miovski at the end of last season against St Mirren.
I certainly feared a VAR review and possible red card.
Having watched the reply he certainly does catch his man studs up and relatively high.
If there had been more force in the challenge, I absolutely could have seen a red card being given.
I do, however, think a yellow was right. But the Serbian can consider himself lucky.
He would then be involved with a collision with former homegrown product Bruce Anderson, which resulted in the latter being stretchered off.
Again, questions were potentially asked for a second booking, something VAR can’t intervene in.
However, after seeing the replays it was just two players challenging for a ball. There was no malice for the foul that was awarded.
No booking in this instance was correct.
Penalty calls were correct
Aberdeen would then have two more penalty shouts for potential fouls on new boy Nicky Devlin and another for a challenge on Miovski.
The referee waved away both of these claims and I think he was spot on to do so, neither looked like pens to me.
Former Aberdeen defender Mikey Devlin was also booked for a rather nasty looking challenge, another foul illustrating the physicality the game was being played at.
The final talking point of this dull opening game of the season was the booking of Aberdeen manager Barry Robson.
➡️ There were just two shots on target as Livingston and Aberdeen drew at the Tony Macaroni Arena ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/aydUbvFv5Y
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) August 5, 2023
He was cautioned by John Beaton in the second half, something which I don’t necessarily agree with.
When the law was introduced that coaching staff could now be booked, a lot of referees took that opportunity to no longer have to warn coaches about their conduct.
Now they could just go over and flash a yellow. I’d prefer referees to go over and discuss with the coaches of any team what they expect from them.
That would give them the opportunity to avoid a booking, much like a referee would do with a player.
Unless, of course, the booking cannot be avoided due to the severity of why they are being cautioned.
