St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin was left disappointed with the penalty decision that put Celtic on easy street in Paisley,
The Hoops secured their third consecutive victory with a fine 4-0 win against the high-flying Buddies. It was an even more impressive scoreline given Saints had come to Parkhead just 10 days beforehand and secured an historic 2-1 success.
However, the scoreline undoubtedly flattered the Hoops yesterday. For 79 minutes, Neil Lennon’s side only had one goal to show for all of their dominance. After Tom Rogic’s 16th-minute opener, it was largely a bore-fest as neither side created much.
That changed when Taylor went down under contact from Ryan Flynn. Edouard slammed home the penalty before Ryan Christie and David Turnbull added some gloss to the scoreline within three minutes. It’s fair to say Goodwin wasn’t best pleased with the spot-kick decision either.
As quoted by the Glasgow Times, the Saints boss said: “I’ve watched the penalty back and we’ve had a number of incidents similar to that this season go against us. We played against Hibs and there was a slight bit of contact on (Jamie) Murphy. It’s the same tonight.
“There’s a slight touch on Taylor’s shoulder, but I don’t think it’s enough for his legs to just crumble beneath him. Unfortunately, that’s the way the game’s going.
“We’ve had our fair share of soft penalties go against us this season.”
Goodwin not wrong; Celtic penalty was soft, but Buddies also got away with one
I can’t bring myself to disagree with Jim here. Not on the penalty award at least. It was soft, and similarly soft to Albian Ajeti’s spot-kick award at Kilmarnock last week too.
However, at the end of the day there was contact. Flynn was clumsy to put an arm on Taylor’s shoulder after the Celtic man had gotten away from him. There’s an element of playing the game here. Something teams have gotten away with doing to us for too long. I can’t bring myself to blame Celtic for making the most of challenges in the opposition box.
Yet, there was another decision that went in St Mirren’s favour yesterday. One that Jim appears to have forgotten about. Jonathan Obika’s ridiculous potential ankle-breaker on Stephen Welsh.
Goodness knows how long Welsh will be out for, but it was dangerous from the Buddies centre-forward. We all saw the way Welsh’s ankle twisted after the connection. If the referee sees that clearly, Obika is off. So it’s important to remember the other decisions instead of simply pinpointing one.
I’ve got plenty of time for the St Mirren manager however. He’s conducted himself well this season and his club have dealt with their Covid setbacks superbly. They’re deservedly in the top-six and battling to stay there ahead of the split. I, for one, hope they make it in too.
But as for last night, the Paisley side can’t complain about coming away from the game with nothing.
In other news, Lennon has provided Celtic fans with a class promise regarding Stephen Welsh.
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