What referee told Martin O'Neill about Celtic red card as missed Hoops penalty claim aired after damaging loss
Celtic have suffered a blow in the title race in the Premiership.
Martin O’Neill has pulled the curtain back on what he was told by match referee Matthew MacDermid on why Auston Trusty was sent off in a damaging 2-1 loss versus Hibs.
The Hibees scored either side of half-time through Felix Passlack and Kai Andrews, cancelling out Benjamin Nygren’s leveller before the break, denting Premiership title ambitions at Parkhead. They are third and six points behind Hearts with a game in hand, with Motherwell in fourth having played the same amount of games, only four behind with two to play against the current holders.
After a VAR review, Trusty was sent off after an altercation with Hibs’ Jamie McGrath, less than a month on from his controversial sending off versus Hearts for denial of a goalscoring opportunity. O’Neill has raised his eyebrows over it after a chat with whistler MacDermid as he also felt Liam Scales could have had a penalty for a shirt pull.
What did referee say about Auston Trusty sending off for Celtic vs Hibs?
He said on Sportsound: “I thought we were absolutely terrific, particularly in the first half. We dominated possession, we go a goal goal behind to a breakaway, and we got a late first half equaliser. We certainly deserved that. We deserved to be in front, we missed a couple of great chances to do that. Players put heart and soul into the game, so I've got no complaints on that side whatsoever.
“I can only go with what the referee told me. The referee said that he was, first of all, looking at the incident that he was just going to have a word with the two players. Then VAR has intervened to say that it was violent conduct, so the player gets a red card. If that's it, then that's the rules.
“I thought it looked pretty harsh, considering that the player was holding on to Trusty. Then a couple of minutes later, we had a really good claim for a penalty kick as well, when Scales has been held in the penalty area. Shirt has been tugged and it's not given.
Martin O’Neill on Celtic 1-2 Hibs
“It's not going to change anything now. We've lost the game at the end of it all and decisions during the course of the season happen. It's one of those things. Trusty knows that you shouldn't be digging down on players if that's the case.
“It seemed rather harsh, considering he was the one being held. However, as I said, in terms of performance, in terms of heart and soul going into the game, I have no complaints whatsoever. We're still in the title race.
“Confidence is something that if you're 15 points clear, then you can be confident in something. We can still chase it down. That's the point. We've been chasing for endless months now. There isn't much room for error but we can still fight back. That's the nature of the game, we had this sort of congested fixture list simply because we'd qualified for the knockout stages of the Europa League. That's to be commended as much as anything else.”