Kal Naismith delivers final Bristol City verdict after conceding controversial penalty to Hull

Kal Naismith has opened up on his verdict of the controversial penalty decision in Bristol City’s opening day defeat to Hull City last Saturday.

The Robins initially took the lead through an Andreas Weimann strike, but a second half incident between Naismith and Benjamin Tetteh led to a penalty for the home side.

Ozan Tufan levelled the score before a last minute Jean Michael Seri strike deflected into Daniel Bentley’s net to hand the Tigers an opening day victory.

Naismith said: “I think the disappointing thing was we had a meeting with the referee’s and they said the threshold was higher this year, but I don't know if that was the case on that one.

“Maybe I shouldn't go to ground so rashly, but there’s maybe the slightest touch on his shin pad, if anything, and then he goes step, step and then falls over.”

However, the new addition was keen not to blame the costly incident on referee Dean Whitestone and assessed how he could have prevented himself from conceding, as well as sympathising with the referee.

“It’s such a difficult job being a referee, and if I'm just looking at it from my own perspective then I need to stay on my feet, I can't go to ground in the box like that,” he admitted.

Manager Nigel Pearson was slightly critical of the official after the match at the MKM Stadium and claimed that they were 'mugged' as well as it being embarrassing for the official.

Following the referee’s difficult opening day’s work, Whitestone has been assigned to officiate in League One this weekend, and will oversee Peterborough United’s home match against Morecambe, in what is a demotion of games.

A tool that could've helped him make a more informed decision about the incident is VAR. The technology has been used in the Premier League for three seasons, and was brought in exclusively for use in the Championship, League One and League Two play-off finals at Wembley Stadium last term.

While the cost of implementing the technology means it is currently out of reach for second tier clubs, the EFL are readily looking into VAR Light options.

VAR Light will essentially work on the same premise as VAR, but will have less cameras in operation and wouldn’t include the offside technology used in the topflight - hence why it is a cheaper alternative.

Despite Naismith’s frustration with the incident, the 30-year-old is tentative about the introduction of VAR in the Championship.

‘“I don't know… I don’t know, you know,” he said conservatively. “Whether it’s there or not I don't think it would change the way I would see things.

“It’s part of football isn't it, you get some and you don't get others, but hopefully stuff will go our way in the coming games.”