Ex-SFA referee thinks everyone’s wrong about Colby Donovan tackle in Celtic vs Hibs

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Celtic may have won the game against Hibs, but in Scotland, it’s never just about the football.

Martin O’Neill’s side took a 2-0 lead with a pair of quickfire goals on the half-hour mark, and it looked set to be a comfortable afternoon.

But a VAR decision to award a penalty for a handball by Liam Scales allowed Hibs to halve the deficit, setting up an uncomfortable end to the game.

Mark Clattenburg disagreed with the Scales decision, just as Chris Sutton did on the live broadcast. But this isn’t the only decision from the game causing debate.

Colby Donovan’s slide tackle on Jordan Obita landed him a booking, but there have been claims that he should’ve been sent off.

Ex-SFA referee on Colby Donovan red card decision in Celtic vs Hibs

Clattenburg agreed that the tackle didn’t meet the criteria for a red, and even Hibs boss David Gray thought it was a yellow.

But ex-SFA ref Des Roache thinks that they’re all wrong.

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Speaking to the Daily Record’s hotline show, Roache gave his reasoning for why he thought Donovan should’ve walked.

He said: “When you magnify anything, anywhere, it’s going to look worse than it is.

“For me, when you look at VAR, and why VAR is there, you have the opportunity to look at it in real time, you have the opportunity to look at it slowed down, you have the opportunity to look at it magnified.

“I just think that Colby Donovan jumped in there unnecessarily, the way that he challenged. Now, we can’t be judge and jury on the severity of the speed or the contact.

“I just thought, at that moment in time, the way he’s challenged, if the referee had the opportunity to look at it, I think that’s worthy of a red card.

“What’s happened and what I think should’ve happened are two different things. Because Nick wasn’t called across to look at it.

“In my opinion – only me, my opinion, I think that was worthy of a red card.”

Hoops fans can rest easy knowing that most experts are in agreement that there was no need to re-referee the game in order to send Donovan off.

Celtic and referees so far this season

Celtic are yet to have a red card in any game this season, but that doesn’t mean that refereeing decisions haven’t given fans any headaches.

In the Braga defeat at Celtic Park, Kelechi Iheanacho had a goal disallowed for handball, despite no angle showing evidence of the ball touching his arm. There still doesn’t seem to have been any explanation for this.

Clattenburg was also surprised that Celtic didn’t get a penalty in the reverse fixture against Hibs, ironically for a potential handball against Obita.

We’ll no doubt be back discussing referees soon, given the sheer number of games coming up in December.