St Mirren suffer more VAR frustration in home defeat by Hibernian

St Mirren suffered more VAR frustration as they fell to a 3-0 defeat by Hibernian in Paisley.

Goals from Josh Mulligan, Chris Cadden and substitute Miguel Chaiwa moved Hibs back above Falkirk into third place in the William Hill Premiership.

But the home side had two goals disallowed for fractional offside calls from video assistant Andrew Dallas at key moments in the game.

The Premier Sports Cup finalists had been on the wrong end of a series of VAR calls in their previous three Premiership games which saw them receive two red cards and have two goals disallowed for contentious interpretations of the offside law.

The Buddies thought they had gone ahead in the fifth minute when Marcus Fraser headed home a Keanu Baccus cross following a short corner.

Fraser was slightly ahead of the last Hibs defender but it looked impossible to tell from the naked eye whether the cross originated from behind the defender. Dallas called it offside from Clydesdale House.

Hibs went ahead in the 24th minute through Mulligan, who had failed to trouble Shamal George from two earlier shooting chances.

The former Dundee midfielder made no mistake a third time as he steered a powerful first-time effort home from 15 yards after being picked out by Jamie McGrath.

The former Saints midfielder had won the ball on the left wing from Richard King, who could not safely control a knee-high pass from goalkeeper Shamal George under pressure from the Irishman.

The hosts created a number of chances late in the first half. Hibs goalkeeper Raphael Sallinger stopped a Baccus header before Killian Phillips was bundled over as he tried to convert the rebound from close range.

The Irish midfielder was, wrongly, flagged offside but Dallas saw no major issues with the goalline challenge.

Sallinger also parried a Phillips strike and Liam Donnelly header before the break and Saints appeared to have equalised inside 60 seconds of the restart.

The in-form Dan Nlundulu collected a pass from King on the edge of the box and hit a shot on the turn which bounced off Jack Iredale’s foot and flew into the top corner.

However, VAR again came to the rescue of Hibs with the St Mirren striker’s foot ruled to have been just ahead of Rocky Bushiri’s heel.

Hibs doubled their lead in the 53rd minute. A Nicky Cadden cross ultimately fell for his twin brother off the boot of Kieron Bowie and the wing-back fired into the far corner with the aid of a deflection.

St Mirren’s frustration was compounded when a lengthy VAR check confirmed the goal with Bowie appearing to be level with the last home defender.

The hosts pushed to get back into the match and Sallinger denied Mikael Mandron.

But it was game over in the 80th minute after a deep corner fell for Josh Campbell.

The midfielder spotted Chaiwa in space and rolled it back for the 21-year-old Zambian midfielder, who fired home from 22 yards via Fraser’s head and the underside of the bar.