Hibernian manager David Gray felt that both penalties awarded against his side were questionable as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Ross County.
A first-half handball against Nicky Cadden was given by referee David Dickinson following intervention by video assistant referee Matthew MacDermid, and Dickinson then made a call that Jordan Smith had felled Kieran Phillips late in the match.
Although Hibs goalkeeper Smith was able to save Jordan White’s effort from the first spot-kick, he was unable to keep out Ronan Hale’s strike three minutes from time that saved County a point after Dylan Levitt’s opening goal.
“Nobody appeals for the first one at all, and actually I think it’s really poor defending for us as Nicky switches off at the back post initially,” Gray said.
“There’s nobody coming in behind him, the ball’s just going to go out of play and clear the box. The letter of the law is his arm is away from the body, but you need to take these considerations into account as well.
“The penalty in the second half, again, I think is soft. I’ve asked the referee about it and he felt the goalkeeper came out in a reckless way and didn’t win the ball, so as soon as he does that and there is a little bit of contact, VAR are not going to intervene.
“I’m not going to sit here and make excuses because there are other things we can do to make it better, but it does make it a wee bit more frustrating that we came away with just a point when, if we get through that moment, it’s three points and down the road and job done.”
It is by no means the first time that there has been a late goal that changes a Ross County result.
For Ross County boss Don Cowie, Hale’s penalty was further evidence of a message he is determined to keep pressing on his players: that the complexion of matches can change at the drop of a hat.
“It stresses the importance of the message that the game can change at any moment,” Cowie said.
“At certain stages this season we’ve let ourselves down by allowing games to get away from us. It would have been easy to go gung ho in the second half and allow a very good Hibs team to exploit us, but we made sure that wasn’t the case.
“The game changes on a moment of quality from first Andrew MacLeod, then George Robesten’s cross to Kieran Phillips getting across the front post which got us the penalty.”
