Celtic’s last-minute goal against Kilmarnock has certainly caused a stir as fans of other clubs furiously debate stoppage time rules online.
Julian Araujo’s Celtic winner against Kilmarnock came in the 90+7th minute of added on time at Rugby Park to spark scenes of bedlam amongst the travelling Parkhead support.
The goal left Kilmarnock boss Neil McCann sickened as he, and fans of rival clubs online, bemoaned the amount of stoppage time the match officials added on.
Why have Celtic been able to score so many late goals this season?
However, former SFA referee Des Roache has explained the rules clearly and how the referee and officials came to the decision to add seven minutes of injury time, and later makes a bizarre claim about the number of stoppages in the game.
Ex-SFA man Des Roache explains stoppage time rule after Celtic furore
It’s strange how much Araujo’s goal has hurt fans of other clubs as many appear to forget that the seven minutes added gave Kilmarnock the chance to snatch a late winner.
And here, Roache explains how the officials at Rugby Park would have come to their conclusion.
Roache told The Ref’s View, “There is no hard and fast rule about how much you put on. So what will be happening is, yes, rule of thumb, you would say 30 seconds per sub. Now we know sometimes that’s longer, sometimes that’s shorter.
“We know that. So you would roughly go with that. But what would have been happening during the game is the fourth official will be shouting on saying, in my opinion, I think five minutes, six minutes, are you okay with that?
“That’s what I’d be doing. And Steve [Conroy] would do. Steve would shout to me, there’s four minutes added time or vice versa.
“And I would say, no, one more, one less or whatever. It’s very subjective and nobody will ever know that.
“And the only people that can tell this decision is Sky because they’re obviously privy to the conversations that are going on.”
Des Roache’s strange claim that there were not ‘too many stoppages’ in Celtic win
So that’s how the match officials come to their stoppage time decision, but then Roache goes on to make a claim that he thought there were not too many stoppages in the game to warrant adding seven minutes on to the Celtic clash.
Roache said, “So they’ll have known that prior to that going ahead. But no, I don’t know. So I personally, I didn’t think there was seven minutes worth in it.
“Didn’t really see too many stoppages in the second half. If they’re adding five for the substitutes, add one. Okay, fine.
“But I think Neil McCann’s just trying to bite anything that he can to appease himself to the Kilmarnock fans.”
You can listen to the full summation below.
Considering Kilmarnock captain Brad Lyons listed the number of head knocks in the game, the number of substitutions and the blatant time-wasting that went on as Celtic chased the win, Roache’s claim is very strange indeed.
Celtic’s win has certainly made the title race even more intense, especially after Rangers beat Hearts at Ibrox and the coming weeks are going to be very interesting indeed.
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