Referee Gavin Duncan will take charge of his first Celtic match since September 2020 tomorrow, appointed by the Scottish FA for the Scottish Premiership match against Dundee.
Duncan has only officiated two Celtic games as a referee previously – a 5-0 win against St Mirren and a hotly-contested 3-2 win over Livingston.
He’s the man in the middle tomorrow, supported by Graeme Stewart and Graham McNellie running the line and Greg Aitken as the fourth official.
That 3-2 victory, behind closed doors, actually had a fair amount of controversy attached to it.
Celtic players were left fuming with Duncan after he failed to award a penalty to the Bhoys early in the game after a Ciaran Brown handball.
Just minutes later he blew the whistle for Livingston in the Celtic box after a similar incident involving Kristoffer Ajer, with Jason Holt converting the penalty.
Then manager Neil Lennon called it out after the match despite the three points, telling the BBC: “I thought we could’ve had a penalty quite easily and it’s debatable whether Livingston’s is a penalty. We reacted very well, we scored two brilliant goals.”
Everyone at tomorrow’s match will be hoping there’s no similar drama. The last thing we need are referees inserting themselves further into this title race.
It’s already been a big season of officiating talking points right across the Scottish Premiership and everyone is waiting with bated breath is waiting to see what’s next on the horizon.
It will be interesting to see how Duncan gets on tomorrow, given we don’t see him in the middle for Celtic games very often.
In other news, “I spoke with Ange”; Celtic defender not concerned with transfer clause, makes ambitions clear.
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