It’s Monday, so there was another edition of Ref Watch on Sky Sports this morning and an incident during Celtic’s win over St Johnstone at the weekend was reviewed.
There was a big penalty shout for the Bhoys in the first half of the 3-1 victory when the score was still deadlocked at 0-0.
Daizen Maeda blasted the ball towards goal, looking certain to score, but his shot was cleared off the line by Saints defender Luke Robinson.
The effort appeared to come off of Robinson’s arm but Euan Anderson did not blow for a penalty and the incident was not referred for review by VAR Chris Graham.
Dermot Gallagher on Celtic penalty incident
Reviewing the talking point on Sky Sports News, Dermot Gallagher said today: “I have to say I think this is a very common sense decision.
“When you look at that, it strikes his arm, he is on the goal line, he has no chance of avoiding that. It is kicked from two or three yards.
“If the referee gives a penalty then he has to give a red card. It is just too harsh. I think the referee has done the right thing, there is no way he can avoid that ball striking him. It is impossible.”
There hasn’t been much common sense applied regarding the handball rule in Scottish football so Celtic fans are right to question the inconsistencies around these incidents.
It may have been harsh to send Robinson for an early bath but were the rules followed as stringently as they have been in other matches this term, such as the penalty conceded by Tomoki Iwata at Tynecastle?
Rodgers has noted that it’s the inconsistency of decisions that have bothered him so much on his return to Scotland and this may well be another example of that.
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