A Scottish FA panel has ruled that the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) should not have intervened to award a penalty kick to Dundee United in last weekend's 1-1 Scottish Premiership draw with Hibernian at Easter Road.

After initially not spotting any infringements, referee Colin Steven was advised to conduct an on-field review (OFR) by VAR Greg Aitken, and after a lengthy review, awarded a spot-kick to United and sent off Mykola Kukharevych for tugging Emmanuel Adegboyega's shirt in the penalty area as the two teams contested a free kick. Sam Dalby scored from 12 yards to level the scoreline and extend Hibs' winless run.

Read more:

Moments later, an incident involving Dalby and Hibs defender Warren O'Hora did not warrant an OFR despite a number of similarities to the United penalty award. 

Speaking afterwards, head. coach David Gray said: "If I'm being really honest, I don't think either of them are penalties. I think the thing that's toughest to take here is the inconsistency. We were told at the start of the season what would be given, what's acceptable, what's not. 

"You always run the risk when you grab a jersey, so I'd never condone it anyway - it's stupid, it's unprofessional, it's lazy defending. But we were told that the player has to be able to affect the ball, [or] you'd give a penalty every single corner that comes in.

"I don't think [Adegboyega] can affect the ball at all in the first one; the referee doesn't give it, then he's advised to go to the screen, so VAR intervenes. And then he doesn't do it for the second one, where O'Hora can actually head the ball. You can clearly see that the centre-forward's got his jersey, pulls it up over his back. And he doesn't give the foul. So I'm a bit confused as to what is and what isn't a penalty, and why he wasn't asked even just to go and give it over to the monitor. Because if you're talking about consistency, he should have at least been asked to go and see it."

The Key Match Incident (KMI) panel, which meets to review VAR decisions in the Scottish game, 'discussed the decision at length', with a majority agreeing with the on-field referee's decision not to award a penalty.

The explanation read: "The majority (3:2) believed that VAR incorrectly intervened to suggest an OFR. Three members of the panel highlighted that they didn't think the potential foul was clear and obvious enough for VAR to get involved.

"Two panel members believed that VAR was correct to intervene and recommend an OFR for a penalty kick to be awarded as they believed that there had been obvious holding from the defender on the attacker."

The panel then unanimously agreed that Dalby on O'Hora was not a penalty, deeming the on-field decision to be correct. 

Asked on Sunday night if he would be seeking an explanation, Gray replied: "I don't think it really matters, because it can't change anything now. We were given an explanation of what would be given and what wouldn't be given at the start of the season. I'm just a bit confused."

It will be of little comfort to Hibs that the majority of the KMI panel felt the referee's on-field decision not to award a penalty was correct as the outcome of the game kept them rooted to the bottom of the table with just one win in 11 games.