The Scottish FA's KMI panel has ruled that Celtic should NOT have been awarded a late penalty against Motherwell.
The decision to give a spot kick for handball against Sam Nicholson, from which Kelechi Iheanacho scored a winner, has proved contentious due to the the ramifications in the title race.
It gave Hearts a tougher job to stay top of the pile when they headed to Parkhead on the final day, ultimately failing in their quest.
And the KMI panel has now ruled that the penalty decision was wrong.
They voted 2:1 that John Beaton was correct not to insantly award the penalty and by the same ratio that VAR shouldn't have intervened and that the wrong final outcome was reached.
The explanation of the verdict was: “The majority (2:1) of the panel deemed the on-field decision of play on to be correct.
Read more
Martin O’Neill’s Celtic future comes with one non-negotiable conditionI was Callum Osmand's youth coach, this is why he's built for lasting Celtic impact
“Two panel members felt VAR was incorrect to intervene and the penalty was incorrectly awarded for handball after OFR (on-field review).
“One panel member felt that VAR was correct to intervene and a penalty should have been awarded.”
The incident was given a difficulty rating of five, noting that it was a “A particularly tough decision that all referees would struggle with. The type of judgement where technology is needed to support officials.”
Had Celtic only taken point point from that game, Hearts would only have needed to avoid a 3-0 defeat in the last day title decider at Celtic Park to be crowned champions.
Instead, any defeat meant they would be displaced and that was the outcome with Celtic scoring two late goals to win the game 3-1.
Derek McInnes had expressed his "disgust" at the handball decision following his team's own game against Falkirk.
