Celtic may now feel aggrieved to have seen St Mirren’s second goal on Sunday afternoon stand with footage showing a potential case for both offside and a foul.
The Bhoys’ unbeaten run in the Scottish Premiership came to an end in Paisley with Ange Postecoglou’s men falling short just days after their Champions League draw against Shakhtar Donetsk.
It was a dismal afternoon for the Hoops who enjoyed 80% of possession and 19 shots throughout the game, however, were undone by St Mirren’s only two shots on Joe Hart’s goal.
Jonah Ayunga doubled the lead for the hosts after beating Stephen Welsh to a looping header inside the box but there has been suggestions he may have been both offside and potentially fouled the 22-year-old.
Pundit Michael Stewart had been speaking on Sportscene (via Scottish Sun) where he suggested the Bhoys should feel hard done by in the second goal with Ayunga’s left foot seemingly in an offside position:
“Technically I think it is offside. But there is a bit of pushing and shoving there from both players.”
TIF Thoughts on the footage…
We certainly feel as if the Hoops have a case to feel aggrieved by the second goal with two separate incidents potentially able to rule the goal out had VAR been in operation.
Should this goal have been disallowed?
Yes
No
Postecoglou himself spoke about the incident after the game and clearly felt as if the English winger was in an offside position:
“You can see that Ayunga’s offside but it’s tight and very, very difficult for the linesman to see definitively. If it was VAR, yes it probably would’ve been chalked off,” he said.
Offside has proven a black-and-white offence and in this case, it would appear Ayunga is indeed offside. However, the second image does also show a push in the back on Welsh which surely the referee has to spot.