Andy Walker took aim at VAR as Celtic defeated St Mirren in the Scottish Premiership as he slammed a "ridiculous" penalty decision against Greg Taylor.

The full-back was penalised for handball early in Paisley and as a result the Buddies opened the scoring from the spot.

Walker was taken aback that the incident was picked up by VAR and he slated the decision in the Sky Sports studio.

When asked if he agreed with the penalty decision, Walker replied: “Absolutely not. A ridiculous decision and look at the position of the referee, David Dickinson. He's looking right at it. He's in a perfect position to see that and I think he calls it right.  

“What do you want Greg Taylor to do with his body? What do you want him to do when he's, what, half a yard away? From that, I think it's a ridiculous decision to have that overturned.” 

Walker’s fellow Sky pundit, ex-Rangers striker Kris Boyd, disagreed. He said: “It’s a penalty kick. I know, you can’t get your hand out the way sometimes but at the end of the day Alex Grieve is getting that the other side – it's a penalty kick.” 

Walker then reiterated his disagreement, adding: “These are ridiculous decisions. When you see a referee who's, what, 10 yards away from it? He makes the call that it's not a penalty. And then you've got Andrew Dallas at VAR saying you've made a mistake.”

Celtic came from behind to take three points against St Mirren as they ultimately ran out comfortable 5-1 winners.

Mark O’Hara gave the home side a sixth-minute lead from the penalty spot but St Mirren’s hopes of repeating their September victory over the champions were undone by Charles Dunne’s professional foul and 38th-minute red card.

Goals from Jota and Alistair Johnston turned the game on its head and substitutes Liel Abada, Matt O’Riley and Oh Hyeon-gyu all scored as Celtic triumphed 5-1 and restored their nine-point lead over Rangers at the top of the cinch Premiership.