Daizen Maeda’s goal, that would have made it 2-2 at Easter Road, was ruled out after a VAR review concluded that the ball had gone out of play before Alistair Johnston’s cross. Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers fumed after the game, saying the officials had “guessed”.

Collum admitted the team of officials had no conclusive evidence and that the goal should have stood.

The refs chief also said that Celtic should have conceded a penalty to St Mirren during their 5-2 win in Paisley last Saturday, and that Dundee United’s Sam Dalby was unfairly penalised for a handball when scoring against Hibernian.

Speaking on the Scottish FA’s VAR Review Show, Collum watched back the replay of Maeda’s goal and talked through the decision-making process from the audio recording.

“You need 100% conclusive evidence to disallow the goal here and prove that the ball is over the goal line and, in this case, that’s not possible,” he said.

“It’s not possible to prove categorically that the ball has crossed the goal line fully.

“On this occasion, we expect the on-field decision to be supported and a goal awarded.

“Let’s think what the starting point is? The starting point is the on-field decision. The on-field decision is the assistant referee keeps the flag down and a goal is scored. So, as far as the assistant referee is concerned, the ball has not gone out of play. The VAR and AVAR of course go into a check, which they are expected to do so. They need to assess with the cameras and the footage available if the ball is out of play.

“You hear the VAR at one point say that it looks like it’s gone out of play from a particular angle, and then AVAR correctly says ‘I don’t think you can be conclusive there’. Then an angle appears from the main camera and you hear a reaction, the VAR and AVAR both think at that point that’s evidence to say the ball is out of play.

“Now, what I want to be very clear about, and we coach the VAR’s and AVAR’s to be certain about this, you need 100 per cent conclusive evidence to disallow the goal here and prove that the ball is over the goal line. And in this case, that is not possible. It’s not possible.”

He was similarly disappointed with the process that saw Dalby’s goal chopped off for Dundee United, when VAR believed the ball had struck the striker’s arm.

“Do we have 100% conclusive evidence of the ball striking the arm?” Collum asked. “And we don’t, so therefore the on-field decision should be supported. We need to be categorical, we need to be clear.”

The referees’ boss then turned his attention to St Mirren v Celtic, where the hosts were adamant they should have had a penalty when Celtic’s Johnston challenged Roland Idowu. Celtic were leading 3-2 at the time and after the penalty claims were denied they went on to win 5-2.

“For us, this is a penalty kick. This is a reckless challenge.

“The outcome here should’ve been penalty kick and yellow card.”

All three of Collum’s opinions were mirrored by the independent panel that reviews key match incidents.