MOTHERWELL, SCOTLAND - MAY 13: Referee John Beaton consults with VAR before awarding Celtic a penalty during a William Hill Premiership match between Motherwell and Celtic at Fir Park, on May 13, 2026, in Motherwell, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Foy/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Soon after equalising for Celtic at Motherwell last night Daizen Maeda again broke the defensive line of the home side.
Goalkeeper Calum Ward knows the problems that the Celtic forward has been causing to defenders and goalkeepers in recent weeks.
St Mirren and Dundee have recently suffered.
Taking no chances Ward decided to race from his goal-mouth, wiping out Maeda in order to reach the ball.
It was a clear foul, a clear penalty, one that left Maeda grounded with play halted.
John Beaton decided to stop play after Arne Engels had hit the crossbar with the loose ball.
No one knows why play was stopped. It restarted with a drop ball to Ward.
Andrew Dallas on VAR duty decided against taking any further action.
CELTIC ROBBED OF MAEDA PENALTY
The correct decision would have been a penalty to Celtic and a booking for Ward. Beaton did neither.
Getting a penalty and the opportunity to go in at half time leading 2-1 would have changed the game.
It might even have impacted on the Hearts v Falkirk match that was taking place at the same time.
Kneed Maeda’s back before the ball came to him.
That’s a Foul. Penalty . Problem is after we won last night all the slugs came out to say we had var help us. McInnes’ comment would get anyone else banned from dugout, but no comments will come on it.
Ibrokes sleaze will be…— Michael (@Michael01755990) May 14, 2026
Of course there was no media outcry about the incident, it didn’t suit their needs.
Sky Sports covered the match live but didn’t include the incident in their social media output.
Sportscene on BBC Scotland left the incident out of their highlights package, as did the official SPFL highlights.
All day long there has been moon-howlers banging on about the penalty that Celtic were awarded.
Not even a throw-away mention to Ward cleaning out Maeda.
As ever Celtic have chosen the silent route as their media partners pile in attempting to influence the decision making on Saturday.
Don Robertson will referee the Celtic v Hearts match, a decision that the SFA only announced at lunchtime today.
That’s a penalty ffs… takes Maeda out before getting ball pic.twitter.com/KiYoKXnnHq
— Paul (@squire67) May 13, 2026
Dallas and Beaton thats why …
— PABLO FAE GOVAN (@Pablo55toga) May 13, 2026
Agree with this …there was also the foul on Trusty for Motherwell first goal ..we get that used to these things constantly happening that we just play on. Motherwell player fouled Trusty with no attempt to play the ball ..led to a poor clearance and a goal
Yet another ‘inconsistency’ with VAR!
In real time, I [like the majority probably] thought the keeper clattered Maeda before he punched the ball.
Is our match viewing experience now being censored?
Why was that incident not repeated – several times and from different angles?
It was dangerous, reckless play: a penalty yes – and arguably a straight red.
Same thing happened on Sunday: the stramash between Celtic & sevco players near the
Celtic goal bye line: wasn’t replayed to show the viewer what actually happened to get the
players so agitated.
VAR is ‘inconsistent’.
TV coverage is also ‘inconsistent’.
100% correct Joe – I thought that their keeper takes out Daizen a split second before he punches the ball clear. It was certainly worthy of a slow motion review by var – selective editing once again by the tv companies.Sky have their last day title decider – what a slice of good luck for them???
Martin simply HAS to come out tomorrow and highlight The Mieda incident…
You can bet your last ever thin fu**in dime that McInnes will be given plenty platforms by The Scummy’s to try to influence the cheats with whistles flags and monitors…
You can bet your bottom dollar that Martin won’t but he’ll have to be cleverly with these bastards tomorrow for sure !