Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

ERIC NICOLSON: VAR should be scrapped if it doesn’t right wrongs like St Johnstone penalty call – and Perth back 3 should stay

Graham Grainger made two bad, and hugely significant calls, during Saints' 1-1 draw with Livingston.

Referee Graham Grainger was centre stage as St Johnstone drew with Livingston. Image: SNS
Referee Graham Grainger was centre stage as St Johnstone drew with Livingston. Image: SNS

It was another draw for St Johnstone on Saturday and another week without a Premiership win.

Courier Sport assesses the contribution of the referee to a frustrating conclusion to the Livingston match, as well as a tactical change that may prove to be a significant step forward.


Two wrongs and not much right

You didn’t have to be a clairvoyant to predict Graham Grainger would go on to have a big impact on this game for all the wrong reasons.

With little over a minute on the clock his decision to book Sven Sprangler for as innocuous a foul as you could ever wish to see put down a deeply concerning marker.

From that moment on, the players would have had no faith that here was a man who could be trusted to get bigger calls right if he was pulling his yellow card out in these circumstances.

Liam Gordon shouldn’t have had his arms out when engaging Joel Nouble in a race for the ball that carried no real danger to the Saints goal.

He got unnecessarily close.

But the contact on the Livingston defender didn’t warrant a penalty and Grainger was too far away to make that sort of game-defining intervention.

It wasn’t as impactive on the result, but his decision to send Gordon off was also wrong.

All in all, it was the worst display of refereeing I’ve seen this season so far.

That Grainger – and his rush to point to the spot, in particular – had a detrimental impact on this match and Saints’ season needs no explaining.

The bigger point, one which is becoming a week on week theme, is the ‘clear and obvious error’ threshold.

Referees and VAR officials are hiding behind it.

It’s either a penalty or it isn’t. This one fell into the latter category.

If VAR (which the clubs are paying handsomely for) can’t help right that sort of wrong, it has no place in our game.

And I’m afraid that Graham Grainger has no place refereeing in the Premiership until he’s shown he can do much, much better than this on a consistent basis.


Tactical change and performance reward

The last half-hour wasn’t good.

Saints were knocked out of their stride by the Livingston equaliser and the unjust nature of it.

They lost their rhythm and there wasn’t another chance of note from that moment on.

That shouldn’t have happened.

If anything they should have been fuelled by a ‘world is against us’ mentality’.

But the first half was the best 45 minutes of football of the season so far in terms of solidity and creativity.

MacLean made a bold decision to switch to a back three (and play two wingers in the wing-back roles, as well as a strike partnership).

We’re not talking about pass and move perfection here, or anything close to it, but there was a goal and three near things at one end and none at the other.

The combination play was encouraging.

St Johnstone's Dan Phillips.
St Johnstone’s Dan Phillips. Image: SNS.

Sprangler and Dan Phillips are going to be absolutely vital to Saints’ hopes of staying up.

The former starting the move that culminated in Dara Costelloe’s goal by showcasing his best assets, and then likewise the latter, bodes well for the weeks ahead.

They complement each other nicely.

And the link-up work between Luke Jephcott and Costelloe for the Irishman’s opportunity a minute after his opener was a snapshot of how their game-styles may ham and egg effectively.

I’m not convinced Luke Robinson has a long-term future as a left-sided centre-back – nor Gordon as a right-sided one.

But things felt a good deal more secure with three central defenders than two.

And it didn’t stifle the forward movement of the wing-backs. Carey, especially, made as much of a creative imprint on the match as he has done in previous fixtures as a more conventional wide forward or off the front operator.

This is the system that suits Saints best at this stage of the season.

It would be a big shock if MacLean reverts to a back four at Pittodrie on Sunday.

Conversation