Collum airbrushes Celtic’s Ibrox penalty claims away

Willie Collum has given a clean bill of health to the refereeing when Celtic drew 2-2 at Ibrox on March 1.

Kris Boyd and Andy Halliday both opted out of highlighting the two penalty claims that VAR ignored.

And if Boydy and the Motherwell bench-warmer are happy then Collum will be as well.

Naturally John Beaton wasn’t going to award Celtic a penalty. Certainly not at Ibrox, in a critical match against the club that he supports.

CELTIC AGAINST ALL ODDS

On VAR duty Steven McLean and Kevin Clancy are experienced enough to know how to stay on the gravy train.

Celtic had two very clear penalty claims before the VAR team gave in with the Dujon Sterling handball.

Neither featured in this month’s VAR Review which did include Collum claiming that the Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain booking against Motherwell was a borderline orange card. How apt.

After 10 minutes Liam Scales had his shirt pulled for over five seconds as he prepared for a corner. It impeded his run as he tried to connect with a corner from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

In the 81st minute Sterling was in a state of panic as Seb Tounekti took the ball into the penalty area, heading for the touchline.

Against Sterling grabbed his opponents shirt for a long period. He then simply resorted to pushing the winger off the pitch and kicking the ball over at the same time.

Beaton had a clear view, he awarded the home side a goal-kick. There was no pause for a VAR Review.

Finally in the 88th minute the Sterling handball was too much to ignore.

The match officials did their job. Celtic fans are supposed to be grateful that their team benefitted from one correct decision out of three!

With David Dickinson and Andrew Dallas on VAR duty on Sunday against Dundee United Celtic know exactly what they are up against.