While Sportscene, led by Steven Naismith howled for Dundee United to be awarded a ‘stonewall’ penalty against Celtic in yesterday’s 1-1 draw the facts shown repeatedly online offer a different perspective.
In isolation there is a decent call for a penalty when Nicky Clark collapsed under pressure from Cameron Carter-Vickers.
Rewind the move 10 seconds however and things come up in a very different light. As Carl Starfelt collects a pass he is effectively bulldozed to the ground by Peter Pawlett.
The Dundee United player simply barges into his opponents, using various parts of his body to ground an opponent and set up a scoring chance.
Kevin Clancy was perfectly placed to view both incidents, having decided not to give a foul for the attack on Starfelt he seemed unable to then point to the penalty spot for the foul on Clark. It seems that two wrongs make a right when you are a top Scottish referee.
Only problem her is that Starfelt was fouled first. https://t.co/JbrWczrIbH
— St.Anthony (@Stephen4_2) September 26, 2021
Did you see any claim from him for a foul? Pawlett’s momentum by nicking the ball makes it look like a foul but it’s more Starfelt’s lack of concentration and slackness that’s the cause
— Sierra Tango (@Thomsy83) September 26, 2021
Nonsense, clear foul on Starfelt. United could have finished with 9 men yesterday.
— Lisbon Lion (@tirnaog_09) September 27, 2021
Just the two hands and a knee in the back there pic.twitter.com/7iXIzxOkyy
— Kevin Hackett (@KevHackett83) September 26, 2021
Naismith on Sportscene:
It’s a stonewall penalty. Yes, the referee has a lot of bodies in front of him, but he should not be getting that wrong. It was such a big decision in the context of the game.
Penalty ma erse. Ye see these barges outside th e box and f all is given. Good old shoulder challenge as they say. More of an assault on Starfelt.
Ex hun , employed by the BBC which is crawling with ex huns screaming for a penalty against Celtic . Surprise surprise
Did they mention the boot in the ribs Abada got from the united keeper ?
No mention of Siegrist deliberately kicking Abada waist high.
Clancy is a pathetic referee and only got the penalty decision correct by luck. Starfelt was fouled before the ball entered the penalty area. It was never a penalty and Celtic should have had a free kick outside the area.
Also, he ignored the assault on Abada by Siegrist. It’s is hard to come to any conclusion other than he is a pathetic and incompetent referee or that he is just plain biased. I’ll go for the former as the evidence supports this. His behaviour as an official is awful and childish. However, most Scottish referees are like this, with only about 2 notable exceptions. We need the Lanarkshire cabal removed.