Former English Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher believes Kevin Clancy was correct to show Hearts two red cards in Celtic’s 2-0 win on Sunday.
Hearts duo Alex Cochrane and Toby Sibbick were given their marching orders in the dying moments of the game after already being cautioned earlier in the second half.
In the aftermath of the Hoops victory, Jambos boss Robbie Neilson was quick to give his thoughts on referee Kevin Clancy’s performance, including his decision to send off the two Hearts defenders.
The Hearts boss stated that he believes the Celtic Park crowd had an impact on those decisions, with neither meriting a second yellow card in his opinion.
Of course, as is usually the case in Scottish Football, Clancy’s performance has now become the most talked about moment of the game, rather than another solid performance by Ange Postecoglou and his squad.
Former English Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher was asked for his opinion on the two decisions during this week’s edition of ‘Ref Watch’ on Sky Sports.
Gallagher was quick to back up Kevin Clancy’s calls from Sunday afternoon when watching back the fouls on Josip Juranovic, David Turnbull, Callum McGregor and Liel Abada.
The former whistler stated that he wasn’t quite sure how the Hearts boss could defend his players after the cynical fouls, which led to the two sending-offs in the final few minutes of the game.
He said [Sky Sports News]: “I don’t know how you can defend them because they’re on yellow cards. There’s no need to do this, and he knocks the bloke over.
“I don’t want to see teams reduced to nine men, but I don’t think the referee’s got any choice.”
Over the last few seasons, we have certainly seen some controversial calls given by Scottish referees.
However, to put these two red card offences into that category would simply be inaccurate after Cochrane and Sibbick were correctly sent off, leaving Hearts with only nine men on the pitch.
Instead of complaining about those decisions, it is maybe the players that Robbie Neilson will want to have a word with, displaying poor discipline in the dying moments of the game at Parkhead, which will now result in the duo missing Hearts’ next league game.
Thankfully, we can swiftly move on from this as a discussion point and instead look forward to the Hoops’ next league outing against Dundee United next weekend.
In other news, Report: Celtic’s bid for highly-rated Scottish youngster rejected.
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