Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton isn’t happy that an early opportunity for the Bhoys to open the scoring away to Ross County was disallowed by referee David Munro.
Liam Scales had the ball in the back of the net within the opening few minutes against the Highland side, but Munro judged that Hyeongyu Oh had fouled Jordan White as the ball was crossed to the Irish international.
For many Celtic fans, White went to ground far too easily and didn’t receive enough contact from Oh to warrant a foul and a disallowed goal.
This was echoed by Sutton, who said on social media site X: “That’s a shocking decision to not award the goal.”
Celtic goal vs Ross County looked valid
It was the kind of incident that, if it had happened anywhere else on the pitch, wouldn’t have even raised an eyebrow. For me, the goal should have stood.
It seemed there was confusion in the VAR room at Clydesdale House, too, with a lengthy check in the aftermath. However, today’s VAR Andrew Dallas did not request Munro to review his decision on the side of the pitch.
There was another big decision to make shortly after with Munro initially only showing a yellow card to James Brown for a poor, studs-up challenge on Hyunjun Yang.
It seemed a clear red even on initial viewing as Brown caught the South Korean on the shin above the ankle. However, Munro required assistance from the VAR team to overturn the decision to a dismissal.
There was further drama when another Celtic goal was disallowed after Daizen Maeda was judged to have been offside before crossing expertly for Oh. The VAR angle on that will look inconclusive to many. It was very, very tight.
Then, Will Nightingale was the subject of a VAR review after smashing Liam Scales in the side of the head with his forearm. He didn’t even receive a yellow but there was a red card check, which didn’t go in Celtic’s favour.
It’s been quite the half in Dingwall, hopefully the Bhoys can show their quality in the second half to secure the three points after all of this stop-start drama which has disrupted the opening period. David Turnbull’s fantastic strike to make it 1-0 right on the whistle will help.
In other news, Brendan Rodgers addresses Maik Nawrocki and Gustaf Lagerbielke situations after Celtic absences
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