St Mirren’s Stephen Robinson admits he would have seen red during VAR drama as younger boss?
The St Mirren boss was relieved to hear the club’s appeal against Marcus Fraser’s red card was successful after the defender was unlucky to be dismissed in the 2-0 defeat to Dundee United.
At the time, referee Matthew MacDermid gave a penalty after United striker Louis Moult had got the better of Fraser with the Buddies ace deemed to have pulled the forward down in the area.
The defender was initially yellow-carded but VAR official Don Robertson invited the whistler to take another look. Following an on-field review, MacDermid sent Fraser packing to Robbo’s disbelief.
However, the Northern Irishman insists his experience in the game has taught him that errors will still occur – even with VAR assisting officials.
And reflecting on how he dealt with the blow, he conceded that he also may have seen red when he was starting out as a gaffer.
He said: “I’d probably have been sent-off! I wouldn’t have been able to say anything. You learn that. I’m a great believer in people do make mistakes. Humans make mistakes.
“VAR is there to prevent those mistakes. But it’s still human error on VAR as well so whatever way we look at technology, there are still human beings working with it and they’ll see things differently and how they see things can be interpreted by one person differently to another person.
“Maybe I’ve mellowed a little bit in terms of that understanding. There were a lot of decisions in that game that we believe weren’t correct and it happens.
“But the week before, Alex Gogic’s red card [in-game against Aberdeen] was overturned. So, to say wholesale it’s not working is wrong. It has worked on lots of occasions for us and it’s worked against us as well. I’m sure every manager will probably have the same feelings.”
Saints welcome Premiership top-six rivals Motherwell to the SMiSA Stadium on Saturday as they look to climb above the Steelmen. Stuart Kettlewell’s outfit, who have played a game fewer than the Buddies, sit in sixth spot, a place above Robbo’s men.
It was a controversial afternoon when the sides last met in September at Fir Park with ‘Well edging the contest 2-1.
Depending on results, a win could see Saints jump to fifth but Robbo isn’t interested in getting ahead of himself and admits ‘Well will get out of their recent rut – he just wants to make sure that it’s not at his team’s expense.
“I think Motherwell are a good side,” he added. “They’ve started the season really well and got to a League cup semi-final. They’ve had a little run at this moment in time but Stuart’s a very good manager.
“I think they have a great team, so they’ll get out of that rut, and we need to make sure it doesn’t work against us.” We focus a lot on our own performance, including our pressing and playing. We approach anyone with great confidence.
Therefore, occasionally all you need is a little bit of luck. We played well that day [against Motherwell], in my opinion. We also had a fantastic goal from Killian [Phillips]. You need things to go your way sometimes.
