Oliver the first English ref to use pitchside VAR monitor & change yellow to red

Amid the ongoing criticism of the implementation of VAR in the Premier League this season, a referee finally used the pitchside monitor to aide a decision on Sunday.

Referee Michael Oliver watched a replay of an incident between Crystal Palace's Luka Milivojevic and Tom Huddlestone of Derby County and overruled his original decision of a yellow card to send off the Eagles skipper midway through the second half.

One-time Palace loanee Chris Martin scored the only goal against his former club and it proved enough to dump Roy Hodgson's side out of the competition following a 1-0 defeat at Selhurst Park.

Palace's cause was not helped though when Milivojevic clashed with Huddlestone and not only kicked out, but then moved his head towards the Derby midfielder.

Referee Oliver originally showed a yellow card to the pair before VAR had a look and then it was left to the man in the middle.

Oliver went over to the pitchside monitor and after watching the incident decided to send off Milivojevic, although it came five minutes after the initial incident.

It would not prove costly for the Rams and boss Phillip Cocu as they secured a third straight win to dump the Eagles out of the FA Cup.

VAR history however was made at Selhurst Park in a season in which criticism of VAR has not been in short supply.

Nevertheless, Oliver's decision also came in a time when calls for referees to refer to pitchside monitors more often that is currently the case have become more vociferous because it would consequently leave the final decision with the man on the field.

It had been mooted that Premier League clubs might recommend referees using pitchside monitors when their chairmen met with referees chief Mike Riley in November.

But the fractious, two-hour meeting saw no change of stance from the PGMOL, who insisted that the protocol will remain that they should be used 'sparingly'.

Sportsmail's refereeing expert Mark Clattenburg also made the suggestion that referees 'must start using pitchside monitors to make their own call on subjective decisions' in his column last week.