Scottish FA referee chief Willie Collum has defended the decision to disallow a Hearts goal against Kilmarnock while conceding that match officials made a major error by failing to award St Mirren a penalty against Rangers at Ibrox.

Collum used the latest edition of the Sky Sports VAR Review Show to clarify several controversial calls from recent Scottish Premiership fixtures. He dismissed comparisons between Laurent Mendy’s disallowed strike for Hearts at Rugby Park and a goal awarded to Celtic against Dundee United, insisting that the two situations were fundamentally different under the laws of the game.

Hearts had strongly protested the decision to chalk off Mendy’s effort after VAR official Matthew McDermid intervened over a handball. Debate intensified following claims that Mendy’s shot was heading wide before Kilmarnock defender Cathal McCarthy directed the ball into his own net.

Collum dismissed those arguments, stating that whether the strike was initially on target was completely irrelevant. He explained that Mendy gained an unfair advantage because the ball struck a punishable area of his arm before he took his shot. Collum classified McCarthy’s intervention as an instinctive saving action rather than a deliberate, controlled piece of defending, directly comparing the defender’s reflex to a goalkeeper attempting to block a goalbound effort. He noted that defenders cannot be expected to gamble on whether an opponent handled the ball or whether a shot might drift wide.

Addressing suggestions that Celtic benefited from a similar handball incident against Dundee United, Collum highlighted a crucial distinction. In Celtic’s case, the ball fell to an attacking teammate who scored. Collum explained that had Mendy’s shot fallen to a teammate who then found the net, the goal would have counted under the current rules. Because Mendy was the shooter whose handball preceded a direct deflection into the net, the goal had to be ruled out.

While Collum stood firmly behind the decision at Rugby Park, he offered an unreserved apology regarding an incident in Rangers’ narrow 1-0 victory over St Mirren. The Paisley club was denied a clear penalty when Rangers defender Manny Fernandez stepped on the foot of St Mirren winger Ismeal Kabia inside the penalty box.

The video assistant referee conducted a brief check at the time and decided that Kabia had initiated the contact by running into Fernandez, opting against an on-field review. Collum admitted that the process was rushed and the ultimate verdict was wrong.

Collum confirmed that the incident should have led to both a penalty kick for St Mirren and a yellow card for Fernandez due to the reckless nature of the challenge. He revealed that top-flight managers agreed with this assessment during recent discussions. Moving forward, Collum stated that the refereeing department will work closely with video officials to ensure they take more time to review such incidents and examine all available angles before clearing potential penalty calls.