Former Premier League referee asks for Willie Collum intervention after VAR incident in Celtic vs Dundee
The incident involved a penalty shout for Hoops striker Tomas Cvancara in the first half of their Scottish Cup clash.
In a match where Celtic scraped by Dundee to reach the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup, former English Premier League ref, Keith Hackett, believes they should’ve had a penalty.
A long range second half strike from Dundee’s Ethan Hamilton gave the visitors a shock lead in the match, which they held on to until 97th minute before Celtic substitute Junior Adamu took the tie to extra time. Sebastian Tounekti was then on target to earn the victory for the Hoops and set up a hotly-anticipated Old Firm clash with Rangers in the quarter-finals.
The match was a nail-biter for the home fans, who were seconds away from witnessing their side suffer a shock exit from the competition, however perhaps the outcome could’ve been different if Celtic were awarded a penalty in the first half. Borussia Monchengladbach loanee Tomas Cvancara was awarded a free kick on the edge of the box after Dundee defender Luke Graham pushed him over.
Contact ‘clearly inside’ the box says Hackett
Despite replays showing the contact continued on into the box, VAR confirmed referee Ryan Lee’s onfield decision, however Hackett believes the officiating team got it wrong and believes the incident should be reviewed by Scottish Head of Referees, Willie Collum.
He told Football Insider: “I do hope that Willie Collum will review this decision. Not that it can be changed, of course. It is evident from this replay that the player’s foot was clearly inside the penalty area when he was pushed. I therefore believe that a penalty kick should have been awarded. To aid this process and come to this conclusion, VAR should have sent the referee to the monitor in order to review the incident.”
Despite this, an official SFA statement regarding the incident read: “In the 38th minute, a free kick is correctly awarded outside the penalty area because the pushing began outside and continued inside. However, it can only be punished if it is holding that continues inside. Pushing can only be punished at the initial point of contact.”
“Dundee have maybe got away with one there’
Former Celtic defender Charlie Mulgrew and ex Dundee gaffer, Tony Docherty were part of the Premier Sports punditry team for the Scottish Cup clash. Both were in agreement that Lee and VAR David Dickinson got it wrong.
Mulgrew said: “For me this is a penalty, I know the contact potentially starts outside the box, but the ruling is if it continues into the box, and there is a push. It looks on the line, and on the line means a penalty so I don’t understand how that’s not been given.”
Docherty added: “I think there’s an argument there that it should be a penalty kick. I remember a similar incident with [Claudio] Braga at Hearts against Dundee United that was given. It was a very quick decision made it on it and I think Dundee might have maybe got away with one there.