Scotland were ‘hard done by’ in VAR penalty exit from Women’s World Cup against Argentina

Kerr felt decisions went against her devastated Scotland players

Shelley Kerr, the Scotland manager, claimed her side were “hard done by” after they crashed out of the Women’s World Cup on Wednesday night in extraordinary circumstances.

Scotland needed to beat Argentina in Paris in order to have any hope of reaching the knock-out stages, yet collapsed from 3-0 up to a 3-3 draw thanks to a re-taken stoppage-time penalty.

The result saw Argentina claim the point they needed to finish above Scotland in Group D and potentially progress as one of the best third-place teams.

Florencia Bonsegundo’s decisive 94th-minute spot-kick was initially saved by Scotland goalkeeper Lee Alexander, only for Alexander to be punished by VAR for straying marginally off her goal-line.

Bonsegundo scored with her second kick, completing a remarkable three-goal turnaround that had only started 20 minutes earlier through

“It’s quite hard right now,” Kerr admitted in her post-match press conference. “Obviously we were 3-0 up and looking quite comfortable. Their first goal changed the whole complexion.

“For 70 minutes we were very good and we didn’t manage to see the game out, but at this moment in time we feel very hard done by.

“It’s very difficult to comment right now, but I think there were certainly a few decisions again which didn’t go our way.

“This is a World Cup and you need the officials to make the right calls and I think there were a few that went against us.

“It’s bitterly disappointing. But saying that we should still manage the game. We’ll not take away that fact, but yes, bitterly disappointing.”

The incident involving Alexander was the second of its kind in a matter of days, after Nigeria goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie was penalised for a similar offence against France.

Recent rule changes regarding penalty kicks specified that goalkeeper must have one foot on the goal-line at the time the kick is taken.

Kerr, who will come under criticism after her side snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, added: “I need to spend a bit of time with the players. We’re all devastated.

“We put so much into this game. Unfortunately we conceded three goals. It’s very tough right now. It’s still very raw. We need to pick up the players, because we put everything into that game.”