For the grand arrival of VAR in English domestic football there ought to have been a fanfare of whistles, a cheerleading display of referee’s assistants waving flags and the two groups of players drawing rectangles instead of the pre-match handshake. As it turned out the handy monitor on the touchline waited, tucked on its stand, quietly inactive, like an unplugged robot, a few yards to the left of the managers’ technical areas. But if that is the glitzy side of VAR, the drama for all to see if and when a referee chooses to use the monitor to look again for himself at something he has doubts about, then the nitty gritty is the quick line of communication back to base camp and the additional officials studying the angles.
The weird twist in this tale came late and in that manner. Just as it seemed the match was set to finish without controversy, with VAR uneeded and unused, Glenn Murray popped up with a matchwinner that was accompanied by enough questions to justify another look from the new backup technology. The word from the referee, Andre Marriner, was quick and to the point: “Check it.”
Related: Glenn Murray leaves it late as Brighton knock Crystal Palace out of FA Cup
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