Willie Collum has insisted the match officials were correct in their decision to not send off Celtic star Alistair Johnston in their win over Ross County.
That is despite a baffled response from Rangers hero Kris Boyd during the Premiership showdown at Dingwall. The Canadian international bundled County sub Kieran Phillips over on the goal-line to concede a penalty in the second half as Matthew McDermid pointed to the spot – but would not dish out a card to the Celtic man.
Jordan White stepped up to the spot to give the Staggies a lifeline in the clash before Brendan Rodgers’ men ran out 4-1 winners. But an unhappy Boyd insisted to Sky Sports that further action should have been taken against the defender: “I cannot understand why that’s not a red card – cannot understand. There’s no attempt to play the ball and it’s denying him a goal scoring opportunity.
“He said it himself, there’s a little nudge in the back. He knew straight away, and yes, they get back to 1-1 but Celtic should be down to 10 men now.
“Jordan White, great composure. He had to wait a long time to take that penalty because I think they go round the house trying to find something wrong with it didn’t they? But you can see there’s absolutely no attempt to play the ball there. No attempt.”
Speaking on the SFA’S VAR Review, Collum offered an explanation to Boyd: “The key thing for us here is about the word ‘obvious’— an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. There’s no doubt it is an opportunity, but when the foul happens, the ball is in mid-air, only just coming into the penalty area.
“For us, there is not enough to say that at that stage this is obvious. This is not where a player has the ball right in front of them about to tap it into the goal.
“A lot of people might disagree with that, but we’re aligning ourselves with UEFA’s thinking and the understanding given by FIFA about denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. They do not want a red card for this kind of scenario.”