Deal with it- former SFA ref tells the critics that Celtic penalty call was spot on

Stuart Dougal has warned Malky Mackay and others that handball in the penalty box will result in penalties.

Alex Iacovitti’s outstretched left arm clearly made contact with the ball as he jostled with Cameron Carter-Vickers for a cross in the closing stages of the first half.

With the players expecting the half-time whistle Willie Collum was called to the VAR screen, took a look and pointed to the penalty spot.

Jota netted to give Celtic the breakthrough while Andy Walker and Kris Boyd broadcast their frustrations on Sky Sports.

The ‘controversy’ continued after the match with Mackay angry about the decision despite admitting that the ball had hit his player’s arm.

Reviewing the incident on the BBC Scotland website it was put to Dougal that no penalty should have been awarded but the former referee put that notion to bed:

Not in my eyes and you have to look at angles. It’s very difficult for the match referee there. He’s blocked and can’t see that. The assistant referee equally and by the laws of the game, that’s a clear handball.

For anybody that doesn’t think that’s a clear handball, you need to change your mindset. Because this will be given week in, week out while we have VAR.

I’m sorry to say that when I watched it in real time, I thought: ‘Ooh, there’s something worth looking at there again.’ Maybe that’s my referee eye, but it didn’t surprise me that the referee was asked to go and have a look at that again. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that there was only going to be one outcome, and that was a penalty.

The way I tend to look at it is, if it happened up in the other penalty area, Malky Mackay would be looking for a penalty, I’m absolutely certain about that. Under the current interpretation of the laws of the game, he would be absolutely right to be looking for a penalty.

It’s a sore one just on half-time. Ross County have held out and the penalty decision goes against them. We can understand that, but I’ll say it again, the mindset has to change. It’s incumbent upon anybody involved in football, not to be criticising referees when they’re giving the right decisions, not to be criticising VAR when they’re stepping in to help match officials get the right decisions.

I also think if the mindset changed, we’d welcome or embrace VAR more and take the positives out of it, not the mistakes it’s making.

In November at Celtic Park County got one of the softest penalties of the season when the ball was kicked at Matt O’Riley from close range.