John Hartson claims Celtic had to beat 'two teams' as he lets rip over VAR

The Welshman watched his former team denied a penalty but VAR didn't intervene

Unimpressed John Hartson claims Celtic had to get past two teams in their thrilling 4-3 win over Hearts at Tynecastle as VAR arrived in Scottish football.

The Welshman watched his former team denied a penalty after Michael Smith appeared to move his hand to the ball to thwart James Forrest's flick into the box. Nick Walsh briefly consulted VAR but HQ quickly decided the incident didn't merit further review. That left Ange Postecoglou and his players aghast on a day Hearts were awarded a pair of spot kicks.

And Hartson saluted the Premiership champion for coming out on top of a game which saw three penalties Speaking on Sky Sports, Hartson said: "You find ways of winning games. You can't always be at your scintillating best to win a game and they've had to dig in today against a real, strong Hearts team. Hearts are very difficult to beat here at Tynecastle, notoriously it's a really tough place to come. I think Ange isn't in favour of VAR, but it's here to stay.

"I feel he probably had to beat two teams today. He had to beat Hearts and he had to beat the VAR team because a couple of VAR decisions went against Celtic. You can clearly see his frustration."

The Premiership champions made it 10 wins in 11 Premiership games and remain top of the pile.