Derek McInnes has claimed that Sam Cosgrove’s red card challenge on Kris Ajer was ‘actually a great tackle’. He also claimed that Ajer winked and was too cute for his player.
Odsonne Edouard put Celtic in front in the 66th when Aberdeen broke forward three minutes later. Ajer put in a fantastic slide tackle on Jon Gallagher that sent the ball towards the corner flag.
As Ajer went over to reclaim the ball Cosgrove came flying in, with both feet off the ground he could have seriously injured the hoops defender had he not anticipated the high-speed lunge.
Referee Euan Anderson reached for a red card but speaking to Radio Scotland McInnes made his views very clear:
Of course it’s not a red, he’s won the ball. Big boy Ajer is winking at Sam, he’s done him over, he’s just been too cute for him. The referee and officials have got to be better than that.
He doesn’t need to go in at that speed, yip, you can question that and if he doesn’t win the ball cleanly then you can see that maybe there is a bit of a claim for a red card but he has won the ball. It is actually a great tackle, he has just gone into it with a bit too much speed which gives the officials something to think about, If the officials do their job right they will see that there is no contact on Ajer.
Sending off pic.twitter.com/rOz2KJo1oc
— Celtic Goals (@CelticGoal) December 21, 2019
Chris Jullien gave Celtic the lead in the 6th minute but after surviving a number of near things Aberdeen equalised in the 35th minute through Cosgrove.
Midway through the second half Ajer and Ryan Christie set up Edouard whose calm finish secured the win and restored Celtic’s five-point lead at the top of the SPFL Premiership.
