Two penalties were awarded after a VAR review almost caused mutiny at Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday night

A-League referee Chris Beath’s explanation of the controversial VAR decisions at Hindmarsh Stadium have been viewed half a million times on social media.

Referee Chris Beath watches Adelaide United and Western Sydney Wanderers get heated at Coopers Stadium on Friday. (AAP Image/James Elsby)

• A-league rival and Chinese clubs eye Troisi
• Reds go down in heated encounter
• How to get the most out of your Advertiser digital subscription

More than half a million viewers clicked onto what is perhaps the first time a referee had had a say about decisions influenced by the video assistant referee (VAR) seconds after social media was in meltdown postgame.

A-League referee Chris Beath revealed on Fox Sports why he decided to hand the Reds two penalty kicks in stoppage time after VAR Kurt Ams alerted him to missing a “clear and obvious error or a serious missed incident” according to the laws of the game.

Watch every Hyundai A-League game LIVE & On-Demand on KAYO. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >

Adelaide United lost the clash against Western Sydney Wanderers 3-2 after George Blackwood converted a first penalty kick before blazing a second over the bar at Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday night.

Those spot kicks came after it appeared that a “a serious missed incident” had been skipped in the first half when VAR cleared Wanderers Mitchell Duke of any wrong doing when it appeared the visiting skipper had lashed out at Ben Halloran. 

And Wanderers Daniel Georgievski threatening to walk off when a second spot kick was awarded when after Beath consulted VAR to make the decision is sure to attract further attention from Football Federation Australia’s disciplinary committee.

Georgievski was judged to have handled the ball inside the box before storming towards the tunnel and returning.

A-League referee Chris Beath spoke to Fox Sports after the Adelaide United versus Western Sydney clash. Picture: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images.

His actions perhaps unnerved Blackwood’s second spot kick from 12 yards.

“The first one (penalty) unfortunately I didn’t see the contact knee on knee,’’ Beath told Fox Sports.

“I just saw normal body contact, normal football contact if you like but VAR asked me to have another look and came out with a penalty decision.

“(For the second penalty) I commented to VAR saying the hands are on the body for me and the VAR checked it and said “he can see one arm is on the body and the other arm is away from the body and asked me to come and have a look.”

It was a heated match at Hindmarsh Stadium between United and the Wanderers. Picture: Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images.

“I looked at the screen, it’s exactly what the VAR had said that “one arm is on the body and the arm that makes contact with the ball is away from the body,” he’s made himself unnaturally bigger.”

Those spot kicks came after it appeared that a “a serious missed incident” had been skipped in the first half when VAR cleared Wanderer Mitch Duke of any wrong doing when it appeared the visiting skipper had lashed out at Ben Halloran.

Adelaide coach Gertjan Verbeek and Wanderers boss Markus Babbel did not ignite the debate.

“I spoke with you guys last week about living in the past and it’s happened,” Verbeek said.

“It doesn’t change I’ll answer your questions about the game but (refereeing decisions) I won’t talk about. “

Originally published as Two penalties were awarded after a VAR review almost caused mutiny at Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday night