Nicolas Kuhn's Celtic winner disputed by Ross County boss as ref slammed for decision that was 'never a foul'

Ross County manager Don Cowie has claimed Celtic should never have been awarded a free-kick in the build-up to Nicolas Kuhn's late winner in Dingwall - insisting his side were on the end of a poor refereeing decision.

The Staggies boss blasted whistler Kevin Clancy for his decision to penalise frontman Jordan White for a foul on Luke McCowan midway inside the visitors half - a set-piece that the Hoops took full advantage off in the 88th minute when Alistair Johnston’s threaded pass slid in Nicolas Kuhn to curl low beyond Ross Laidlaw into the far corner.

That completed a dramatic turnaround for the Scottish champions after Johnston had earlier cancelled out Ronan Hale’s first-half retaken penalty in Dingwall. And while accepting his players should have defended better, Cowie felt his side were hard done by following Clancy’s blunder to blow for a foul.

He said: "For me, they score a goal which is never a foul in the middle of the pitch. There's no contact, Jordan puts his foot out. He makes no contact with Luke McCowan. He then loses the ball and at that stage, we're a little bit out of shape and a good team punishes you and that's what happened.

“With my eye at the time I didn't think it was a free-kick. I've seen it again, and it's not a free-kick. So, for whatever reason, Kevin thinks it is. It still means we can react and prevent it from happening. But it's disappointing that the decision goes against us.”

Meanwhile, opposite number Brendan Rodgers was thrilled to see his Celtic side put their 7-1 Europa League thrashing at the hands of Borussia Dortmund to bed by clinching a late winner, despite admitting his players lacked a cutting edge in the first-half.

“It's a Celtic tradition, isn't it? It's how the game is played at this club," he admitted. "Because if you look over the course of this week, we had thousands of fans turn up in Dortmund. They've seen what they've seen, which wasn't great, but they give us great support at the end of the game.

“Now they're having to come up here for a 12 o'clock kick-off, so the very least you can do is run your heart out right to the very end. That's what this club's about. It's the fabric of this club. You keep going to the end.”