Nonsense, clear foul on Starfelt- demolishing the Dundee United ‘stonewall’ penalty myth

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.

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.