THE aftermath to Leigh Griffiths' phantom goal at Easter Road must be to hope that practice makes perfect.
The introduction of goal-line technology would solve the problem but is beyond the means of Scottish clubs.
John Fleming, Scottish Football Association's head of referee operations, took the unusual step of issuing a statement yesterday after Griffiths' free-kick crossed the line against Hearts in the Edinburgh derby on Sunday but was not given as a goal to Hiberian. Euan Norris, the referee, and assistant referee, Raymond Whyte, failed to spot that the ball was over and the game ended goalless.
The incident followed a meeting in Edinburgh this month when Sepp Blatter, the FIFA president, confirmed at the International FA Board annual general meeting that goal-line technology will be used in time for the World Cup in Brazil next year.
Fleming, though, pointed out that the cost – believed to be as much as £300,000 per installation – made the system unattractive to Scottish clubs. He said: " That would make it prohibitive, I would suggest, for the respective league bodies in Scotland to consider rolling-out any time soon."
He pointed out that training over such goal-line incidents had been carried out at the Scottish FA referees training camp in La Manga earlier this year. "We actually give referees simulations and they have a split second to decide whether the ball is on the line or over the line. It is an essential part of their training but they are only human," said Fleming.
"In free-kick situations such as the one at the weekend there are three situations that a referee and his assistants must look out for: offside, management of defensive wall with regards to holding, handling and jostling, and the ball over the line.
"In probability terms, the first two occur more often than a contentious ball over the line decision. It is crucially important to get those calls right, of course, when the ball may or may not have crossed the line but there are far more instances of the other two."
He added of the incident on Sunday: "It doesn't matter whether it is five millimetres in or five yards in: if it has crossed the line it is a goal. In that regard, I can sympathise with Hibernian and Pat Fenlon."
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