There is a problem with officiating in Scotland and it isn’t that they keep getting things wrong – it’s the criticism, scrutiny and abuse they face purely for getting things right to the benefit of Rangers.
When John Beaton looked back at his penalty call that saw us pick up all three points at Easter Road he would have smiled at getting such a big decision correct, only to find himself the subject of analysis in the Scottish press.
Now, after another visit to the capital in which we returned to Ibrox with three points, the referee is the centre of attention again.
Nick Walsh didn’t get much wrong – other than perhaps James Tavernier’s bizarre yellow card in incident in which he was the one that was fouled – the cards he dished out were either to repeat offenders or for tackles that were late/could have caused injury, it doesn’t matter if it’s a player’s first foul.
The two major talking points were, of course, the penalty incident where a Gary Mackay-Steven cross hit Connor Goldson’s hand and the sending off of Josh Ginnelly.
Goldson’s hand was pointing down to the ground and his arm, only just, off the side of his body, he was also only a matter of feet away from Mackay-Steven when he played the ball – in short, his arm was in a natural position and he had no time to react.
If it was a goal bound shot he blocked he might still have been reprieved, as it was, the ball went straight to Liam Boyce, it 100% touched his hand but Rangers gained no advantage from it.
As for Ginnelly, squaring up to the referee will always get you a yellow card, squaring up to an opposing player when it has nothing to do with you will also get you one – two strikes and you’re out.
Let’s ignore the dubiety of the free-kick Celtic won that produced their winning goal against Motherwell or the penalty that Tony Watt should have been awarded after being thrown to the ground by Cameron Carter-Vickers, after all there’s a conspiracy to upheld and the usual suspects are front and centre in their attempts to keep it alive.