Celtic comfortably disposed of Kilmarnock yesterday to claim three points in their first test of the new Scottish Premiership campaign.
The Bhoys sit at the top of the table owing to a dominant performance on home soil, which capped a brilliant day for the support after Jim Craig unfurled the league flag in front of the Parkhead crowd.
Talk of more will be left for supporters to visualise while Brendan Rodgers instructs his side to take one game at a time; nevertheless, as far as starts go, the Irishman’s men couldn’t have fared much better.
There were no major gripes from what turned out to be a relaxed Sunday afternoon in Glasgow’s east end, though there were strong claims for a Celtic penalty in the dying embers after Kyogo Furuhashi was wiped out by Ross McCrorie when through on goal, as seen below.
Plenty of chatter has been generated from the incident. Michael Stewart and Mark Wilson have since given their unanimous verdict on the event after Celtic’s convincing triumph.
Michael Stewart and Mark Wilson on Celtic penalty claim
Kicking off, Stewart stated [Sportscene]: “It was, it’s such a tight one and thinking perhaps it was offside, there was a wee bit of a delay in time.
“When you look at it in real time, there’s a difference here between the one we saw in the first half, where Kyogo knocks it past McCrorie, and it looks like it’s maybe going to get cleared away, and one that you’ll see in the Dundee Derby as well.
“That there is a foul for me, Kyogo could get that once he knocks it past McCrorie and then it’s a goalscoring opportunity. For me, that’s a penalty kick. Although, he’s not wiped out, its more of a bump, but still, I think that should’ve been given as a penalty.”
Later on, Wilson offered his take, stating: “It’s a stonewall penalty if its anywhere else on the pitch it’s a foul, so it certainly was, and I think Mayo just may have played him onside if you look at Mayo’s foot creeping in, so for me it’s a penalty.”
Celtic penalty claim should be valued as talking point despite win
Yes, the post-mortem of decisions that have went one way or another is tiring, especially when the main fact is Celtic comfortably saw off Kilmarnock at Parkhead.
Nevertheless, if the game was 0-0 at that point, for example, far more emphasis would’ve been placed on the decision’s outcome, so it is worth asking why VAR didn’t think there was enough for an intervention.
Nobody is even saying the decision would’ve been a definitive one, but closer scrutiny of whether Furuhashi was onside could’ve helped to clear up any misgivings. From the angle provided, it is very tight, to say the least.
Either way, yesterday was an enjoyable occasion as Celtic started the league campaign with intent. More of the same will be required when the Bhoys visit Hibernian this Sunday.
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