Celtic picked up a big three points at home to Ross County today. Four goals, the Bhoys in cruise control and definitely in pole position heading into the last seven games of the season.
Nothing to complain about then? Well – not quite for me. One incident did annoy me and most likely perplexed manager Ange Postecoglou too.
The Celtic boss already called out referee Don Robertson this season after his poor display in the Alloa Athletic Scottish Cup clash. He was criticised for not protecting players on the pitch. Today was the same.
A wild lunge from Kayne Ramsay ensured he received a straight red card, but the truth is it came too late and at the cost of Tom Rogic limping off with an injury after half an hour.
Ramsay’s late tackle on Daizen Maeda just moments before didn’t draw a yellow card, despite it being a blatant one. That gave him free rein to go in heavy on the Australian.
While justice was done at that point, it could be argued Robertson put Rogic and other players at risk with his failure to punish Ramsay initially. Again, like Alloa, Robertson didn’t have control of the situation.
Rogic is the unlucky one here. On the brink of crucial matches with Australia in World Cup qualifying, he’s now carrying a knock that we don’t know the extent of. He was forced off, with Matt O’Riley brought on, so clearly it was a sore one.
Scottish referees need to understand what is acceptable in modern football. We can’t have players crashing about threatening serious injury. Players have to be protected from dangerous play – isn’t that one of the purposes of yellow cards and cautions?
VAR isn’t going to fix this, so the Scottish FA have to get their act together.
In other news, Ange prediction coming true, title race subplot; 3 things we learned as Celtic hammer Ross County.
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