BRENDAN RODGERS is due to answer an SFA notice of complaint at Hampden on Thursday following the fall-out of Celtic’s controversial 2-0 loss to Hearts at Tynecastle this month.
The Hoops boss called into question the competence of referee Don Robertson and VAR assistant John Beaton after a couple of incredulous decisions that went a long way to deciding the outcome in Edinburgh.
Yang Hyun-jun figured in the first ropey judgement when he was red-carded in the 14th minute after the onfield official had been instructed to review a high-boot challenge that had originally brought a farcical booking.
It got worse when Robertson looked at the touchline monitor and returned to the pitch to banish the bewildered South Korean winger.
PHANTOM PENALTY-KICK…the ball brushes the arm of the unaware Tomoki Iwata as Alastair Johnston and Hearts’ Stephen Kingsley tussle for possession.
Beaton interrupted play again just before the interval when he told his coleague to review an incident where the ball brushed the arm of Tomoki Iwata. The referee had a good view of the moment and seven Hearts players in the vicinity did not appeal for a penalty-kick.
There was no sign of a “clear and obvious error”, but Robertson pointed to the spot after a glance at the monitor, the hosts accepted the gift to open the scoring as they went on to collect three points.
Amid the furore in the aftermath, Rodgers took centre stage with his comments of the officials.
The Irishman was still with Leicester City back on September 18 2022 when Robertson had a massive say in Ange Postecoglou’s side’s identical loss against St Mirren in Paisley.
GOING…Stephen Welsh is airborne as he is knocked aside by St Mirren striker Jonah Ayunga. Referee Don Robertson appears to have a good view of the incident.
GOING…Welsh tumbles to the ground as Ayunga heads the ball past the stranded Joe Hart. The match official continues to look on.
GONE…Ayunga runs away in delight, Hart complains to Robertson who has apparently seen nothing untoward as he allows the goal.
It was the champions’ first league loss following an excellent sequence of 38 matches – one day short of a year – and it was ropey ref Robertson who enraged the visiting team and fans with some bewildering decisions with the worst coming seven minutes after the turnaround.
The Hoops were trailing to a Mark O’Hara goal in the 43rd minute and battling to get back into the contest as quickly as possible after the break.
Their comeback was scuppered when the match official, who appeared to have an uninterrupted view of the incident, must have been aware of a two-handed shove by Saints striker Jonah Ayunga into the back of Stephen Welsh.
MAKING HIS POINT…Joe Hart has a word with the linesman who missed a blatant offside call.
The push propelled the Celtic defender through the air before the hitman headed past Joe Hart for the second goal. Amazingly, Robertson missed the blatant infringement.
There was no VAR at the time, and, even more alarmingly, TV pictures later proved conclusively Ayunga had been OFFSIDE.
Hart had a point to make to the referee and his standside assistant, but there was no intervention and the goal stood. The Hoops, with 80 percent of the possession, slumped to a stunning loss.
It was a double whammy that cost the Parkhead side big style on the day.
There were no official complaints from Celtic and Robertson and his assistant were spared closer scrutiny.
