Lennon, Ledley and Thompson hit out at decisions

 

 

 

Neil Lennon, Joe Ledley and Alan Thompson have hit out at Euan ‘spot-kick’ Norris’s decision to award Hearts a last minute penalty against Celtic at Hampden.

A close range shot from Marius Zaliukas struck Ledley’s arm with Norris instantly pointing to the spot with Craig Beattie converting to book Hearts place in the final.

Lennon confronted Norris on the pitch at the final whistle and wasn’t prepared to back down after the match.

He tweeted: “Referee told players he thought Wanyama handled…feel so sorry for players and fans..I think it’s personal myself.”

Midfielder Ledley tweeted: “Can’t believe the decisions made on the pitch today. Was never a pen.”

Adding confusion to the issue Ledley added: “This Sums it up, he thought it hit Victors arm.”

Ledley was also the victim of a vicious studs on shin attack from Ian Black that only merited a yellow card from Norris. Later on in the first half Black deliberately handled the ball but despite awarding Celtic a free-kick the referee didn’t issue another yellow card.

Assistant manager Alan Thompson said: “We are very, very disappointed to say the least, more for the players and the fans.

“It’s inconsistency from the referee. If one’s a penalty the other one’s a penalty.

“Initially we thought the Hearts one wasn’t a penalty. The ball came up to Joe Ledley’s hand and it was so close to his hand he couldn’t get out of the way.

“If that was a penalty we thought the Webster one should have been a penalty.

“There’s an inconsistency with how the referee sees it. Yet again we think we’ve been done in a cup final from a big decision. In the League Cup final we were denied a stonewall penalty.

“On the whole we’re disappointed and thought we deserved more.

“We obviously wanted to go on and finish the season on a high but that won’t take away what we’ve done in the league.”

Norris did get the Andy Webster decision right as the ball appeared to strike the players hip.

Although Celtic were far from their best, missing a number of clear chances, the game should have gone to extra-time but for the bizarre interpretation of the rules of referee Norris.

Rangers v CELTIC Glasgow Cup Final, kick off 7pm, Ibrox April 16

CLICK HERE for spot-kick Norris strikes again

CLICK HERE for Rod Stewart celebrates Celtic’s title success

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