Brendan Rodgers has hit out at Kevin Clancy over the Hibs penalty that almost turned today’s Betfred Cup semi-final at Hampden.
Celtic were leading 2-0 when Martin Boyle hit the deck under pressure but not from contact by Dedryck Boyata.
While Clancy hesitated over a decision his assistant Frank Connor raced towards the corner flag signalling that a foul had been committed.
Clancy looked less than convinced as he pointed to the penalty spot and waved away Celtic’s protests.
“Sometimes you look at it and get that initial reaction and then you go back to the repeat and see it differently,” Rodgers explained after the match in The Sun.
“My initial reaction was that Dedryck recovered well, the boy is running front over the ball, he gets his toe to it and the ball is misdirected.
“There are two poor decisions, one from the referee who is on his way back and then he is looking for help from the linesman who is facing it. How he gave the penalty I will never know.
“It gave Hibs a little bit of oxygen and made us really refocus on our game and the players pulled themselves back into it.
“Any coach or manager will tell you that, particularly in the show-piece games, you don’t want a decision to go against you because you don’t get the chance to come back again.
“There are no replays, it’s a one-off game but it asked a question of us in terms of our composure and mentality and the players responded well to get the extra goals.”
Anthony Stokes scored from the penalty spot in the 59th minute but seven minutes later Moussa Dembele restored Celtic’s two goal lead with the hoops going on to win 4-2 and book their place in the final of the Betfred Cup.
Despite having just 60 hours between the Champions League defeat from Bayern Munich and today’s kick off Celtic finished the match the stronger side with Dembele now in line to start Wednesday’s league match at Aberdeen.
