David Martindale has revealed VAR will not be in use when Livingston play St Mirren in the fourth round of the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup at the Set Fare Arena on Saturday even though he has received an apology from SFA head of refereeing Willie Collum for a controversial penalty decision at the weekend.
Martindale was incensed when his bottom-placed side were denied a spot kick by match official Don Robertson in stoppage time in their William Hill Premiership match against Kilmarnock at home on Saturday after Brad Lyons handled a Scott Pittman header inside his own area.
The incident was reviewed by VAR officials Calum Scott and Peter Stuart over at Clydesdale House in Glasgow – but Robertson was not asked to watch a replay on his pitchside monitor and the encounter finished in a 1-1 draw.
The Livingston manager, whose promoted team have not won a top flight game since back August and sit four points below their Rugby Park opponents as a result, confirmed the West Lothian outfit have opted out of using the new technology, as SFA rules entitle them to do, when they face St Mirren in the cup this weekend.
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Asked what Collum had said to him about the Lyons penalty call on Saturday when they spoke on Monday, Martindale said, “Sorry. He said he was sorry and that he couldn't believe they got it wrong. He couldn't believe the VAR officials never asked the referee to go and look at the monitor.
"At Ibrox away (Livingston were denied a penalty in a Premiership game against Rangers in November after Emmanuel Fernandez handled a Tete Yengi shot) it was 1-1 and we could have gone 2-1 up. It's debatable if you win the game, get a draw or still get beat in that situation. But on Saturday was a last-minute penalty with the team directly above you. I found that hard to take."
Asked if he thought the timing of the incident late on in the game affected the match officials’ actions, he said, "I'd like to say no because if it did that would be down to sheer incompetence or sheer bias. I just think they missed it.
"Whether it's the first minute, whether it's the last minute, a pen's a pen. So I wouldn't think that came into the decision-making. I would hope it didn't. He has missed it. We never got it, so there's no other explanation.
"The VAR officials felt there wasn't enough in it to ask the referee to look at the monitor or the referee would have looked at the monitor. I wasn't sure in real time. Penalties are so subjective now. Then I watched it back on the iPad and I said, ‘Stonewall penalty’. The whole bench said the same thing.
"Is it a small club bias, a subconscious bias? I don't know. I just look at some of the decisions and think, 'How can you get this wrong?' I look at some of the ones that are really soft and think, ‘Okay, maybe you're right, I get why.’ Then I look at other decisions and it's impossible to get it wrong when you watch it back.”
Livingston will attempt to put their disappointing run of form behind them by beating Premier Sports Cup winners St Mirren, whose manager Stephen Robinson has also been unhappy with several refereeing decisions this season, in the Scottish Cup on Saturday and Martindale confirmed that both clubs are content not to use VAR.
"No chance,” he said. “I'm not paying for that. There will be other cup games where there are no Premiership teams which won’t have it. If you are Premiership team playing away to a Championship team that hasn’t got the infrastructure for VAR and you want it I don't think you can have it.
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"But we installed it four or five years ago. It took a couple of weeks and I was actively the one doing it, me and the maintenance boys. It's not as easy as turning up and plugging VAR in. It doesn't really work like that. You need to have the infrastructure there as well.
"Our game has two Premiership teams, but we've said we don't want it and St Mirren have then said they're happy not to have it. St Mirren could have said, ‘We'll pay for it’. Then VAR would have been there. But St Mirren are obviously happy not to have it also or we would have had it.”
Martindale continued, "I think we're taking away a bit from the game now, I really do. I think we're stealing a bit of enjoyment from the game. The way you defend a corner in the Championship is different to the way you defend a corner in the Premiership.
"It's not actually defending now. It's hard to defend a corner in the Premiership because the slightest pull can lead to a penalty. You've got to have a wee bit of that don’t you? It's football.”
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