Fans say Celtic vs Buckie Thistle is ‘already ruined’ just THREE minutes after kick-off in Scottish Cup clash

FANS reckon the David vs Goliath Scottish Cup clash between Celtic and Buckie Thistle was RUINED within just minutes of the match kicking off today.

The Hoops played host to the Highland League side at Celtic Park in the fourth round of the competition.

Celtic were of course clear favourites for the win, but that didn't stop around 2,500 Buckie fans travelling down from the tiny town in the north of the country and giving their players a rousing send off.

As cup fever gripped the stadium at kick-off, the visiting supporters would have been hoping for a few things to go their way early on so that they could keep dreaming of a miraculous shock.

No early goals, no silly penalties, no controversial decisions going against them. Anything to keep the cup holders at bay for the longest time possible.

But after only a few minutes of action, match referee Chris Graham made a call that put hearts in mouth for all connected with Buckie.

Liel Abada was scythed down by Buckie's Jack Murray inside the box but it looked to all in the stadium that he was clearly offside and therefore a penalty couldn't have been given.

But VAR Steven McLean still checked over the incident in the both and then called Graham over to the monitor anyway, much to the surprise of most inside the ground.

Following that pause, Graham made his way over to the pitchside screen to analyse the coming together.

He could be seen holding his earpiece and in constant communication with the VAR team as they tried to establish if Abada had been fouled.

After around three minutes of deliberation (more time was spent checking the incident than had actually been played), Graham eventually reached the decision that there was no penalty to be awarded and he signalled for offside.

Given this game was the only Scottish Cup tie to have VAR in operation, many punters saw it as a prime example of a head-scratching decision from those who run our game.

Many asked on social media why this was the only match to have VAR.

One fan remarked on social media that the game was "already ruined" because of the needless delay.

A second added: "Ludicrous from VAR at Celtic Park. Three or four minutes to decide a blatant offside, that could have been decided from one replay without lines. Atrocious."

A third said: "Why’d he need to go to the monitor for that?! Get VAR binned! If it’s not working three years in it’ll never work."

Another fan said: "Was an obvious offside. Players need another warm up now that it took so long."