A new panel has been set up by the Scottish FA to review major incidents in games where VAR is operational - and agreed that both penalty decisions in Heart of Midlothian's 2-0 defeat to Celtic on Saturday were ultimately correct.

The Key Match Incident Review Panel replaces the Independent Review Panel (IRP) and will meet weekly where they will vote to determine whether the on-field decision and any subsequent VAR intervention were correct.

Each KMI Panel will consist of five members: three independent panel members with established careers within Scottish football – such as coaches, former players and members of the Scottish football media – one representative from the Scottish FA and one representative from SPFL clubs.

An SFA statement read: "Each panellist will have one vote on each KMI, with the outcome of each review determined by the majority. Incidents for the KMI Panel to review each week are selected by SPFL clubs or the Scottish FA.

"The KMI Panel will also award a rating for the difficulty level of the decision in question, based on the following scoring method:

- A simple decision that all officials should get correct.

- A fairly simple decision for a Select official, but with more factors to consider.

- A more complex decision with a greater degree of subjectivity and/or more factors to consider, that a Select official should nonetheless call correctly.

- A difficult decision for officials with a high degree of subjectivity or challenging considerations to identify. One that needs deliberation. A 50/50 call.

- A particularly tough decision that all match officials would struggle with. The type of judgement where technology is needed to support officials."

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What did they make of Celtic v Hearts decisions?

The panel met for the first time this week to discuss the weekend's action, including Hearts' 2-0 loss at Celtic which had to VAR decision that went against Steven Naismith's men.

In the first half referee Colin Steven awarded Hearts a penalty, determining that Liam Scales had handled the ball. The official was asked to review the decision on the monitor before it was overturned.

All five members of the panel agreed that the penalty should have been overturned and the right decision was made in the end.

"The panel agreed this was a tough call for the referee but supported that VAR intervened and overturned the penalty kick for handball," it said. "The distance from the attacking player to the defender is too close and he has no time to react. The panel were not convinced that the ball struck a punishable part of the arm."

It wasn't unanimous for the penalty Celtic were awarded in the second half. James Penrice blocked a cross and Steven didn't determine it was a penalty at the time. VAR intervened and after consulting the monitor Steven overturned his decision and awarded the penalty.

"The panel discussed this decision at length with the majority (4:1) deeming the onfield decision incorrect and believed the Assistant Referee was more of the lead on this one due to positioning," the reasoning read. "The majority (4:1) believed this was a correct VAR intervention to award the penalty, noting that the defender made himself bigger and that his arm is out from the body."