'Who knows anymore?' – Newell feared VAR would disallow goal

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Hibernian captain Joe Newell says he feared his equaliser against Celtic was going to be ruled out when a VAR check was announced for a potential handball by the midfielder.

The goal was allowed to stand due to insufficient evidence being shown to the VAR, Don Robertson, therefore the on-field decision of a goal stood.

Newell, whose side went on to lose the game 2-1, says the rules regarding the incident are fairly complex for everyone involved.

"To be completely honest, who knows the rules anymore? I don't know. Being completely honest, I thought my arm was by my side for starters," he said.

"I haven't seen any replay, that's the truth. So I don't know. But just from what I remember, I felt like it was kind of between my hip bone and my arm.

"And I don't know if it hit it or not. But I didn't have that elation because I kind of thought, hmm, who knows now.

"And then when it was getting checked and it was an offside check and a handball check, you're kind of thinking, oh, it's not going to go your way. I've not seen any replays or anything.

"So I don't actually know. But yeah, who knows anymore? I don't know. You know the rule. I don't know the rule. Who knows?".

Celtic scored a winner in the second half, but Newell says his team are giving themselves mountains to climb by having players sent off.

Jamie McGrath was the fourth Hibs player to see red in their past three matches.

"There's a lot to be done with 10 men again," he said. "The boys dug in as expected. As I would expect, as everyone kind of expects of that group.

"But we fell short. It's a bit of a killer that comes from a set-piece. You kind of always feel like that can be avoided. So on the whole, I thought we defended really well again.

"I feel like we just were not giving ourselves enough of a chance - nowhere near enough of a chance - to get a foothold in any game."

The official attendance was over 18,000, but there were huge gaps where Hibs season ticket holders decided not to attend.

Some Hibs fans were not concerned about losing on Sunday because the result would not have aided Hearts' chances of winning the title.