Former Scottish FA referee Stuart Dougal insists Derek McInnes was right to hit out at VAR after Kilmarnock were denied a penalty at the weekend.

Dougal admits the Rugby Park outfit should have been awarded a spot-kick when St Johnstone defender Andrew Considine handled a ball into the box.

McInnes has railed against VAR in recent weeks, with his side also suffering in their 2-0 defeat to Hibernian at Easter Road when striker Kyle Vassell was shown a red card following the intervention of the video assistant.

And Dougal concedes the former Aberdeen boss had every right to be angry with the officials’ decision-making in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Saints.

He said: “Derek McInnes has been pretty vocal against VAR in recent weeks.

“I’ve not really agreed with his comments, but it’s hard to disagree with him here.

“I can only imagine, and I’m really stretching things here, that the VAR official was in some doubt as to whether it clearly hit his hand and whether there’s been a clear and obvious error by the match referee.

“But if I’m watching that as a VAR assistant, at worst I’m going to get the referee across to have a look at it and say, ‘look, help me out here, what do you think?’, rather than deciding there and then that it is not a clear and obvious error.

“So, personally, I do think Derek has got a bit of a grievance there.

“Let’s not take away the fact VAR is helping a lot more than it’s hindering, but I think they may have got that one wrong.”

With controversial incidents throughout the Premiership matches at the weekend, Dundee United are seeking a VAR summit with top-flight clubs, the SFA and referees.

But Dougal has defended the system, claiming it ensures more right decisions than wrong ones are made.

The former FIFA ref told BBC’s Verdict: “VAR has taken a wee bit of a pounding this weekend and I’ve read a few comments. People seem to be focusing in on negatives when it comes to VAR.

“But over the weeks, in many cases VAR has intervened to correct a wrong.

“For those who are questioning VAR, please look at the positives and see the number of genuine mistakes that have been made and have been corrected, rather than looking at the one or two that might have been a different outcome.”