Football journalist Mark McDougall has slammed ‘refereeing standards’ after an incident in Celtic’s last league game.
Over the weekend, the Bhoys claimed a 3-1 away win in the Scottish Premiership courtesy of goals from Daizen Maeda, Nicky Devlin’s own goal and James Forrest.
However, the build-up to the club’s first goal was shrouded in controversy. Indeed, Celtic right-back Anthony Ralston won a corner even though the last touch seemed to come off his arm before going out of play. From the resulting set piece, Maeda eventually put the ball into the back of the net.
Were Celtic lucky to get awarded the corner that led to their first goal?
Yes
No
In light of the incident, McDougall took to Twitter to vent his anger with the quality of officiating in Scotland. He wrote: “How two officials could look at that and award a corner to Celtic is beyond me. Refereeing standards in Scotland at all-time low.”
TIF Thoughts on Celtic and referees in Scotland…
There’s little doubting that Ange Postecoglou and co will be delighted to see that decision go their way as their hunt for the league title continues to gather momentum.
Celtic now currently top the SPFL table with 73 points to their name after 30 games played – which is three more points than second-placed Rangers.
In this most recent fixture against Livingston, referee Nick Walsh certainly seemed to be the centre of attention with some ‘contentious’ calls. Not only did he fail to make the right call regarding the aforementioned corner, but he also awarded a penalty to the Bhoys for a handball that could have been deemed somewhat harsh.
With Scottish officials being in the spotlight such as this, it seems like the calls for VAR to be introduced will only grow stronger.
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