Ross County forward Simon Murray is convinced he should have had a penalty against Celtic, despite replays showing that he was barely touched by goalkeeper Joe Hart.
The Bhoys shot-stopper was caught in possession after a poor touch from Anthony Ralston, allowing Murray a sniff at goal. However, the Ross County man lost his footing when trying to round Hart and tumbled to the ground, appealing for a penalty.
Replays showed minimal, if any, contact and Celtic were also exonerated by the VAR system. Nonetheless, Murray isn’t happy and has shared what referee Nick Walsh told him about the incident on the day.
He said [The Scotsman]: “There was contact. The ref just said there wasn’t enough for a penalty. But there was an infringement on me and it made me stumble. I was trying to stay on my feet and be honest and score. If that’s in the middle of the park and I go down straight away then it’s given as a foul.
“I think the referee has to look at it and see that there was no advantage there – it’s a penalty in my eyes. But sometimes you get them and sometimes you don’t. It’s just disappointing as the referee said there was contact, but just not enough for a penalty. I don’t really know what that means when he’s admitting there was contact.
“The penalty Celtic got was a fairly similar incident. He went down straight away but it was still the same sort of collision – they get it and we don’t. As a player coming away to Celtic Park you need things to go your way but it didn’t seem to happen.”
It seems Murray is looking for something that isn’t quite there. Greg Taylor was clattered in the opposite box for our penalty, while he went down like a tonne of bricks after being brushed with a feather.
Murray was perhaps speaking in the heat of the moment after the match. Comments are often held back from matchday for Monday morning print papers. So while his disappointment is understandable, I don’t think he’s got this one right.
County acquitted themselves well in the opening period and will feel they possibly should have capitalised by taking a chance. But that doesn’t mean they were owed a penalty. Hart may have been lucky he didn’t make more contact with Murray, but there was still nowhere near enough for Murray to have too many complaints.
In other news, The new Celtic song that got an airing vs Ross County; tune and lyrics.
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