NONE the wiser, then.

The first controversial goal to be awarded in English professional football with the use of a Video Assistant Referee might have been a clanger for all we knew at the final whistle.

Crystal Palace players appealed long and hard that Glenn Murray’s 88th-minute winner had been finished off with his arm.

But with replays appearing inconclusive, on-field ref Andre Marriner upheld his decision with the video official Neil Swarbrick, holed up in a TV studio near Heathrow, presumably deciding that replays were inconclusive.

Either that or Swarbrick had called out for a Chinese takeaway, cracked into a four-pack of lager from the local off-licence and switched over to watch EastEnders or Corrie instead.

Refs chief Mike Riley had assured us that this new system would not be 100 per cent perfect and he was proved spectacularly right from the word go.

When Dale Stephens drilled Brighton into the lead in last night’s FA Cup third-round tie, there was no Neil Armstrong or Lee Harvey Oswald moment either.

Swarbrick spoke into Marriner’s earpiece, told him nothing untoward had occurred and the official in the middle indicated a goal.

The first goal scored with VAR assistance in England didn’t need need any assistance at all.

There wasn’t the slightest hint of any offside or foul.

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Palace’s Bakary Sako netted a cracking second-half equaliser before Murray bundled over the line late on – with his knee and, perhaps, with a hint of an arm.

For the first time in the 146-year history of competitive football in England, the referee’s decision was no longer final.

Instead Swarbrick, sitting in the warmth of his bunker while Marriner and the rest of us froze our conkers off on the south coast, was poised to over-rule him on a goal, a penalty, a possible red card or a case of mistaken identity.

Soon enough one of his remote-refereeing colleagues will make a truly momentous intervention – perhaps even in the second game of this trial in tomorrow night’s Chelsea v Arsenal Carabao Cup semi-final.

Whatever happens, though, you won’t hear much dissent about the VAR system on the TV.

All TV companies are in favour of it because they want TV to become a key participant in the game, rather than merely an observer.

And elite referees are all in favour because it means more jobs for elite referees.

When they’re too old to run around the pitch any longer they can sit and judge from the comfort of a swivel chair.

Even if the whole trial is a fiasco – as it had been in last summer’s Confederations Cup – it will be imposed on all matches before long. It is a fait accomplis – nobody will dare to try and force the genie back into the bottle.

This grudge match, between two clubs who insist on calling it a derby despite all geographical evidence to the contrary, was a strange one on which to impose guinea-pig status.

Although managers Chris Hughton and Roy Hodgson did their best to take the sting out of the fixture by making a raft changes to two teams obsessed with avoiding relegation from the Premier League.

Hughton made eight changes to the Brighton side, while Hodgson made do with four – as the cynics suggested Wilf Zaha was rested to avoid any tumbling controversies in the Brighton penalty area.

There were thousands of empty seats in the home areas of the Amex stadium and the ‘reward’ of a fourth-round visit to Tony Pulis’s Middlesbrough was not exactly the tastiest of carrots to add to the occasion.

Brighton’s Chelsea loanee Izzy Brown limped off with a knee injury after only five minutes following a crunching block tackle from Jeff Schlupp – with the Palace man, suffering the after-effects, also replaced soon after.

Solly March’s downward header pushed over the bar by Hennessey.

At the opposite end a Sako shot was saved by Tim Krul, then an Andros Townsend shot deflected wide by a diving defender, with Swarbrick apparently assuring Marriner that there had been no handball.

On 26 minutes came the breakthrough, Ezequiel Schelotto cutting back for Stephens to drill home, beating Hennessey at his near post when the Welsh keeper really ought to have saved.

There were half-hearted chants of ‘V-A-R! V-A-R!’ from the away end when Uwe Huenemeier nudged over James McArthur in the Brighton box but there was never any chance of Swarbrick getting busy.

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