Celtic penalty was 'really soft' says Dundee boss whose side were 'hard done by' in 2-0 defeat
Tony Docherty was not pleased that the Hoops were awarded a spot kick for an apparent foul on Kyogo Furuhashi.
Dundee head coach Tony Docherty has called the penalty kick that Celtic were awarded in last night’s 2-0 Scottish Premiership win ‘soft’ after his side’s defeat.
The Hoops kept pace with Aberdeen at the top of the league table with the Dons winning 2-1 against Rangers at Pittodrie and both sides are now nine points ahead of the Ibrox club in the table. Alistair Johnstone opened the scoring for Brendan Rodgers’ side on the hour mark and Arne Engels wrapped up the three points from the spot after Kyogo was brought down in the box.
Speaking after the match, Docherty said: “I think the penalty is really soft. I think there's a foul that leads up to it on Sylla. I don't know why they don't pick that up. I've seen it back. And I think Antonio touches the ball. He doesn't even know where Kyogo is.
“Kyogo goes down and Tony's telling me that he doesn’t think it’s a penalty. I've seen it myself and I don't think it's a penalty. But when it goes to 2-0, that makes it so much more difficult. I don't think the boys deserved that. I was really proud of their performance tonight. I thought they were hard done by by that second penalty."
Docherty was asked after the match if he had spoken to officials and added: “Very briefly. I just asked if he checked. He said he did check. But I do think there was a strong case that it was a free kick - two hands on Mo's back when he was trying to protect the ball.
“I do think Antonio gets a touch on the ball. So those two decisions, I think, made the decision for me that it shouldn't be a penalty kick. I think that's a performance that does deserve a clean sheet. But you know what? We're not going to make excuses. We're not getting anything, even when that foul's checked for the penalty. I know we're not going to get it.
“It just seems to be sometimes it's your turn. So we just need to keep working hard and showing the level of commitment that we showed tonight as a team. It'll turn for us.”