To pardon a pun Michael Stewart went out on a limb last night as he backed Nick Walsh over the Michael Smith handball at Tynecastle yesterday.
A couple of minutes after Hearts had been awarded a penalty after Nick Walsh consulted the VAR monitor Celtic were attacking down the right wing with James Forrest in possession.
As the winger darted towards the penalty box and crossed the ball Smith panicked, raised his left hand and deflected the ball from the intended target. It was fairly close up but Forrest didn’t hit the ball with much force, however the Hearts defender lifted his arm and pushed it out, straight away Smith looked sheepish as he realised what he had done.
In the Sky Sports studio at Tynecastle John Hartson, James McFadden and Ryan McGowan agreed that it should have been a penalty, a few hours later on Sportscene Stewart viewed things very differently as Football Scotland reported:
Most pundits thought it was a stonewall spot kick, but not Stewart.
He said: “Nick Walsh again is in the perfect position and I think he comes to the right decision.
“They were very quick with this one. You tell me where Michael Smith’s arm is meant to be? It’s not a case of not hitting the ball, his arm is in a completely natural position. I can understand why some people see this as a penalty.
“The rules are if it’s a deliberate handball or if he’s making his body bigger and it’s not part of a natural movement.”
Kerr didn’t necessarily agree, adding: “When I watched it at the time, I thought it would be given as a penalty.
“The reason why is because I think he moves his arm up towards the ball. I’m not saying it’s intentional but I see a motion towards the ball.”
Stewart interjected: “He doesn’t move his arm up towards the ball. He’s moving his arm because the ball hit him and he’s moving his arm away from it.”
He usually talks sense, but Michael Stewart is totally wrong here. It’s a penalty ? https://t.co/2oSPswWOG6
— JustAnOrdinaryBhoy (@ordinarybhoy) October 23, 2022
