Yesterday’s win was a strange one for Celtic.
Again, Celtic dominated the match with over 70% possession [Sky Sports] and were never really troubled at home against Motherwell, but it did seem like a slog of a result.
Especially after Juranovic let the Steelmen back in it with a chested own goal.
But as Celtic went ahead 2-1 with a brilliant Reo Hatate goal, the players still never really killed the game off and after a nervy end when Callum McGregor was shown a straight red card the game could, and should, have been put to bed after the Hoops were denied what seemed like a stonewall penalty in the 73rd minute:
A penalty shout for Celtic v Motherwell today.
Player handling the ball on a yellow card.John Beaton ref. pic.twitter.com/e24ielB8UF
— Lint (@Zeshankenzo) October 1, 2022
There is a bit of a debate of whether the ball hit the Motherwell defender’s hand or shoulder but you can see from the momentum of the players right hand the ball does look to have connected with the hand of the player so why is no one speaking about it?
If Celtic get that penalty and tuck it away, we go 3-1 up and the momentum would have been with us.
Poor officiating is the norm in Scotland and I can accept mistakes or shouts that are difficult to see but with the Assistant Referee in line with the incident, how on earth did he miss it?
Thankfully, that didn’t cost us any points but had it been given and we converted, it would have altered the course of the game to the extent that the pass back by Hatate may never have happened and the captain wouldn’t have received a red card.
Or maybe I’m just clutching at straws?