St Johnstone accept no whistle before Dessers' goal

Cyriel Dessers shot Rangers into a 1-0 lead - but the goal only stood after VAR intervention

St Johnstone are now satisfied that referee Matthew MacDermid did not blow his whistle in the lead-up to Rangers' Cyriel Dessers scoring the opening goal in his side's Premier Sports Cup win at Hampden on Saturday.

The Perth club had asked for a meeting with the Scottish FA to clarify the 61st-minute incident in which MacDermid initially signalled for a foul by the striker on St Johnstone defender Jack Sanders, then reversed his decision following a video assistant referee (VAR) intervention.

On Monday, representatives of the Perth club met with SFA head of refereeing Willie Collum, who backed the referee's decision following VAR official Greg Aitken's advice.

After hearing audio from the incident, St Johnstone are now satisfied that no breaches of VAR protocol took place.

St Johnstone thought the whistle had been blown before the ball crossed the line but are now satisfied this was not the case and are not pursuing the matter further.

The SFA advised on Saturday evening that they had reviewed the audio and were satisfied MacDermid waited until the ball had crossed the line before blowing his whistle.

This then allowed VAR to check whether the award of a foul against Dessers was correct.

The last-16 tie ended 2-0, with Ross McCausland adding a second goal in added time.

Immediately after the defeat, St Johnstone manager Craig Levein said: "Everybody stopped because of one or two things. Either they've stopped because they heard the whistle or they've seen the referee giving us a free-kick.

"I think the referee's made a mistake. And I'd love him to come out afterwards and just say, 'look, I’ve got that one wrong'."