The Football Association has to get to grips with the use of VAR in its flagship competition.

The FA Cup quarter-finals were packed with drama, particularly at Millwall and Swansea.

Albion’s absorbing comeback in south-east London and Manchester City’s more expected recovery in Wales has resulted in a Wembley clash between the pair in the semi-finals next month.

Beneath all the drama and excitement lies a stark truth for the FA to explain and correct. The quarter-finals were unfair.

The playing field was uneven, because the FA decided only Premier League stadia should use the Video Assistant Referee system.

Hence, VAR was in place for Watford’s win against Crystal Palace at Vicarage Road and Wolves’ victory over Manchester United at Molineux.

Not though for Albion and Manchester City’s visits to Championship opposition.

The matches at Watford and Wolves were relatively incident-free, although Martin Atkinson reduced a late red card to yellow for Manchester United’s Victor Lindelof after the defender’s tackle on Diogo Jota was reviewed by Chris Kavanagh.

The Argus: Kavanagh (above) was the man in the middle the following day for Albion’s tie at the Den.

The Seagulls performed poorly and were fortunate to go through on penalties, but key decisions were missed by Kavanagh and his assistants, Dan Cook and Sian Massey-Ellis, which made an awkward task even harder for Chris Hughton’s team.

In the first half, Shane Duffy was impeded at a corner. If it had been seen, Albion could have been awarded a spot-kick.

The Argus: In the second half, Glenn Murray was fouled trying to defend the corner from which Alex Pearce (above) powered Millwall into the lead.

There was a possible handball in the build-up to Millwall’s second goal, scored by Aiden O’Brien.

Then, in extra-time, Martin Montoya was wrongly flagged offside when he set up Jurgen Locadia for what would have been the Dutchman’s second goal of the game.

These decisions could have been costly for Albion. The mistakes made in Wales were for Swansea.

Man City’s penalty, awarded for a foul on Raheem Sterling (below), was not clearcut.

The Argus: Their winner was. Sergio Aguero was marginally offside when he headed Pep Guardiola’s team to Wembley after they too had been 2-0 down.

To make matters worse, Swansea had the VAR technology installed last season when they were in the Premier League, but it was turned off to comply with the FA’s rules.

It is a messy legacy to a captivating weekend, which the FA must resolve for next year’s competition.

While they are at it, they need to visit the two bookings leading to a ban rule introduced this season.

That cost Yves Bissouma a place in midfield for Albion’s quarter-final and placed Locadia, Dale Stephens (below) and the unused Bruno at risk of missing out on a Wembley semi-final.

The Argus: The suspension regulation is too harsh but, more importantly, unfair on smaller clubs.

What if a League One team, or lower, had reached the quarter-finals? They start in the first round, not the third like Premier League and Championship sides, so would have played two more games to reach that stage.

The biggest anomaly is a lower league club facing a Premier League or Championship club in the third round and losing a player booked in rounds one and two before their opponents have even entered.

The solution is to wipe the slate clean after round two, as is the case after the quarter-finals to prevent a bookings ban for the final.