Celtic progressed into the next round of the Scottish Cup after beating Kilmarnock 2-1.
Goals from Callum McGregor and Daizen Maeda were enough for Celtic to see off a Kilmarnock side who were, in truth, lucky to still be in the game after Brendan Rodgers’ side squandered plenty of first-half chances.
The Celtic manager must have been really frustrated after the Hoops let Kilmarnock back into the game with a controversial equaliser at Celtic Park.
Bobby Wales pulled the Ayrshire club level just before halftime after a Kilmarnock hand deflected the ball into his path for him to slot home an easy chance past Celtic hero, Kasper Schmeichel.
In the end, the decision of the match officials didn’t cost Celtic in the long run, however, it did put pressure on the Parkhead club at a time when they were well in control of the game.
Speaking about the goal, former SFA referees Des Roache and Steve Conroy gave their verdict on whether or not they believed the Kilmarnock goal should have stood despite Celtic progressing to the next round of the Scottish Cup.
Ex-SFA referees are ‘absolutely fine’ with Kilmarnock goal vs Celtic
Roache said, “I’m okay with it. The Kilmarnock player pulls his hands into his body. He’s not making himself unnaturally bigger.
“He’s not looking to gain an advantage. The ball struck him. Yeah, I’m absolutely fine with it.
Conroy concluded, “Absolutely fine. There was no offence because he hadn’t made himself big, he hadn’t made himself unnatural.
“Certainly hit his hand, but he didn’t score directly from the handball. He didn’t score at all. It just rebounded off him onto somebody else.
“That could have come off his knee, his head, could have been anything, because it was a sclaff. It was just one of those things and unluckily, it came off his arm.
“But no, there was no offence so the goal was perfectly valid.”
Kasper Schmeichel’s reaction as Kilmarnock goal vs Celtic stood
The normally cool calm and collected, Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel was visibly annoyed at the decision as a fan captured him confronting the match officials at halftime.
Celtic fans know that this isn’t the first time that they have been unfairly impacted by decisions in a game by VAR or the match officials and, unfortunately, it won’t be the last.
Thankfully Celtic saw the game out and the bid to win another treble is still on but it could have been so very different had the team allowed their annoyance at allowing the goal to stand to affect how the rest of game panned out.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
