Neil Warnock likened the VAR “computer” to the Horizon Post Office software after his Aberdeen side were denied a winner for a marginal offside decision in a six-goal thriller with Motherwell.

Warnock joked he was expecting the sack when Motherwell went three up inside 26 minutes thanks to Theo Bair’s double and an Adam Devine strike. With Richard Jensen missing through illness, Warnock had started with one centre-back and two full-backs in his defence but his double change on the half-hour sparked an instant response.

With the centre-back Angus MacDonald and the attacker Duk on for the midfielders Shayden Morris and Dante Polvara, the latter substitute scored within 30 seconds after Motherwell lost the ball from their own throw-in.

Motherwell continued to look vulnerable from set-pieces and goals from Stefan Gartenmann and Duk had Aberdeen level by the 50th minute.

Both sides had potential winners disallowed – the Aberdeen striker Bojan Miovski for offside and Motherwell’s Harry Paton was denied after a VAR review. Miovski looked level with the last Motherwell defender and Warnock was unconvinced by the referee Kevin Clancy’s faith in the VAR system.

“VAR, I don’t believe it, me,” Warnock said. “He said VAR is a computer. I think it’s the Horizon computer. You can’t tell me that’s offside. I’ve seen the lines. I don’t believe it’s offside. I don’t know how they do it.”

Warnock reacted swiftly to change matters after Motherwell went three ahead but he admitted that the chairman, Dave Cormack, might have been thinking similarly.

“I was thinking: ‘What times are the planes to Cornwall tomorrow?’ expecting a call on the bench from Dave,” he said. “We lost Jensen this morning to an illness so we changed it and thought we could play that way but it showed we couldn’t.

“All credit to the boys, at 3-0 a lot could have gone under but when we made the changes we enjoyed it and I enjoyed watching them.”

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Motherwell’s manager, Stuart Kettlewell, was also disappointed with VAR after seeing Paton’s goal disallowed for Calum Butcher’s push on Jamie McGrath. “There were a lot of contacts in the box and without question he has two hands on the back of his opponent but he didn’t push him two or three yards,” Kettlewell said.

“Was it an obvious error? He said it was but from two or three angles I’ve seen I don’t think it was a contact that propelled him into his keeper.

“I felt it was a little soft and if you look at it so many times are we looking for something that isn’t obviously there?”

Kettlewell bemoaned his side’s defending from set-pieces which led to Aberdeen’s goals, including Duk’s first, which came from a Motherwell throw-in.

“There are three restarts in the game where if we are better then we win,” he said. “It lets me focus on it and try to educate some of the younger guys.”

Rangers moved level on points with the Premiership leaders Celtic with a 3-1 win against Ross County but their profligacy prevented them going top.

The Light Blues took the lead in the fifth minute through the striker Cyriel Dessers and the home side then hit the goal-frame twice amid an onslaught.

However, the second-bottom Staggies, with Don Cowie in charge for the first time following the departure of Derek Adams last week, unexpectedly levelled in the 25th minute with a Simon Murray strike.

Dessers grabbed his second in first-half added time to placate the Gers fans frustrated at the missed chances but there were more opportunities passed up in the second half before the defender John Souttar eventually headed in a third late on.

After eventually catching up on fixtures with Celtic, the Govan side are level on points and goal difference with the Hoops but have scored four fewer than their Old Firm rivals.