Craig Levein baffled by St Johnstone penalty farce as he insists VAR room refs are just BORED

Craig Levein has insisted it isn’t VAR that is turning the game into a farce but the people who are making the unnecessary calls.

The St Johnstone manager was left fuming after Dundee were awarded a penalty, which led to their leveller and then saw them win the game. Levein claimed that he and Dundee boss Tony Docherty didn’t even know if it was a Dundee or St Johnstone penalty when VAR intervened.

The Saints boss stated: “It’s not VAR, it’s people making the decisions. The decision-making for me was ridiculous. Look at every set-piece in a game and you could find something that could be called a foul. Firstly, Gordy’s arm is raised by David Keltjens. It’s raised Gordy’s arm and it’s on the shoulder. The referee is none the wiser but somebody decides it’s a good idea to intervene. That’s not a clear and obvious error. Doc’s asking me ‘is it a penalty for you or a penalty for us? I’ve said: ‘I’ve not got a clue’. That’s what happened.

“It’s very simple. It’s not VAR, it’s somebody sitting in a wee booth somewhere thinking ‘you know if I’m pretty bored I’ll maybe call the referee over for this one’. Honestly, I don’t get it.

“Nobody knows what’s going on. That’s the third one of those that has gone against us.

“Maybe Dundee haven’t had much luck recently but we certainly haven’t, that’s for sure. If we’re going to re-referee games after every corner and free-kick I’m sure you could find blocking, hands on shoulders, holding jerseys – loads of them.

VAR had a big bearing on this game but Levein was more disappointed from the reaction from his team after the penalty was awarded. He acknowledged: “What really, really annoyed me was our response to it was abysmal.

“We’ve let it affect us enormously and we’ve stopped doing the things