It was almost like watching a re-run of Jimmy Johnstone in action against Atletico Madrid in 1974.
From the third minute it was obvious that Patrick Roberts had been singled out for some special treatment at Hampden yesterday.
The very thought of the England youth internationalist had Myles Beerman terrified, playing against Partick Thistle and Kilmarnock was no preparation for the teenage Malteser.
And if the strong arm tactics of Beerman wasn’t going to put Roberts out of action then Andy Halliday was waiting in the wings and couldn’t wait to set about his own task.
‘Right rapazes, let them know you’re there, sem prisioneros’ pic.twitter.com/2BShoqKuHc
— Arsène Parçelie (@Arsene_Parcelie) April 23, 2017
The Laws of Football are the same throughout the 90 minutes, no special allowances are made for the first five or ten minutes.
Willie Collum sent off Sevco’s Micky O’Halloran after five minutes against Motherwell on January 28, yesterday he declined to do the same with Halliday.
Having stepped back from ordering off the former Bradford favourite it was open season, any type of foul could be committed knowing that the punishment would be no worse than a yellow card.
Beerman continued to concentrate on Roberts rather than the ball, late in the match David Bates went straight through on the recently injured Tom Rogic without even a free kick being awarded.
Halliday, Beerman and Bates will all be playing against Celtic on Saturday, hopefully Roberts will again avoid serious injury but the law of averages is ticking against Brendan Rodgers squad with the Champions League qualifiers three months away.
CLICK HERE for great Hampden gallery.
