Celtic rescued a point at Dundee after a late penalty was converted by Arne Engels.
With the clock ticking down and just a few minutes to spare, Celtic looked like they were heading for their second defeat of the season against Dundee.
A handball by Dens Park player Mohamed Sylla gave Celtic a lifeline at Dens Park and instead of losing all three points, Brendan Rodgers’ team left Tayside with a share of the spoils.
However, even though the on-field referee and the VAR team instantly agreed that the handball decision was correct, that didn’t stop Ally McCoist from having a dig at Celtic about the late spot-kick drama.
What Ally McCoist said about Celtic’s penalty vs Dundee
After being wound up by Alan Brazil about the gap at the top of the Scottish Premiership table, McCoist took a subtle swipe at Celtic getting the late lifeline at Dens Park.
McCoist said of the Bhoys’ penalty, “I couldn’t believe it. Celtic got a penalty in the 95th minute. That doesn’t happen very often, does it?
“Me and the wee man were coming home from Chelsea and he says, ‘How long to go at Dundee?’ and I said, ‘It’s 92 minutes’.
“He said, ‘It will be two minutes to the penalty’ and he got it spot on, to be fair. Spot on.”
But it seems the only thing that was spot on was the decision to award Celtic the penalty as Dermot Gallagher had his say on the matter.
Dermot Gallagher praises ‘totally consistent’ award of Celtic penalty vs Dundee
Gallagher told Sky Sports’ Ref Watch, “You see there, his arm’s up, it’s high and it hits him. I think it’s a penalty anyhow under the criteria.
“But what I would say is in the Scottish league we have seen every one like this given. They are absolutely totally consistent on it. I think that one would have been given anywhere if you put your arm up like that.
“They have been really hard and fast on this. It doesn’t matter whether they are tougher as long as they are consistent, so every team gets the same.
“I think their tolerance level on handball is slightly lower. But what you would say is their tolerance level is across the board. People don’t mind that as long as they know what they are getting for their money.”
There seems to be a strange narrative building about Celtic being awarded penalties from a certain fanbase but as 67 Hail Hail discussed yesterday, every single award was correct.
And as Gallagher states, as long as refereeing standards remain consistent then that will keep football supporters in Scotland happy.
Well, most of them at least.
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