This afternoon’s match between Celtic and St Johnstone provided yet another illustration of the refereeing decisions’ inconsistent nature, which has raised concerns this season.
Luke Robinson stopped Daizen Maeda’s attempt, which appeared to be headed for goal as the ball struck his arm, denying the Japanese winger a clear chance to score.
In light of the decision to give Hearts a penalty at Tynecastle after the ball inadvertently struck Tomoki Iwata, the St Johnstone defender deliberately made the effort to thwart Maeda’s attempt.
Even with VAR in place, the Scottish officials who haven’t exactly shone this season made a perplexing choice to rule that there was no penalty.
Simply put, at 0-0, actions like those may have cost Celtic the win today and ultimately the league title. If the defender does not use his hand to block, Celtic score.A play like that would have made headlines on an other day, but in the end, Celtic won 3-1, so the Hoops will take all the credit for a fantastic performance that saw Kyogo Furuhashi and Nicolas Kuhn grabbing the spotlight.
