Former referee makes bizarre verdict on Celtic’s penalty claim vs Kilmarnock

As the fallout over Celtic’s defeat to Kilmarnock in the cup continues, the fans will be picking over the bones of the result to understand why the team’s performance was so bad.

Ultimately, Celtic were just not good enough. The performance of the team wasn’t good enough and that is why we are out. Not one Celtic fan can, or would, deny that.

As I had spoken about earlier on 67 Hail Hail, Celtic could, and probably should, have been awarded a penalty after Lewis Mayo tripped Hoops winger, Sead Haksabanovic in the Killie box.

But according to former Grade 1 official, and now refereeing podcaster, Steve Conroy, apparently not. In fact, the ex-referee goes on to explain Haksabanovic’s role in the incident and I have to be honest, it has left me scratching my head.

The Get Involved Referee podcast social media platform tweeted, “Steve Conroy said: “Contact doesn’t automatically mean a foul. I think he got the ball, but then the Celtic player deliberately “tripped” over the Kilmarnock [player’s] leg. The tackle was perfectly fair, contact with the player or not, so there was no foul.”

The strange thing is, the account even posted a video of the incident that you can view here. The footage clearly shows Haksabanovic being fouled. The former referee also seems to insinuate that the Celtic winger dived. The video evidence shows the complete opposite.

If anything, the footage shows just how clumsy the Kilmarnock defender was in the challenge as he tries to intercept the ball from behind the Celtic winger.

Look, Celtic were soundly beaten and deservedly so. But the inconsistency of the decisions being made by VAR when other teams in the league seem to get the rub of the green on penalty decisions does leave a feeling of deep frustration.

But for Celtic, they have more important things to focus on now. A good performance against St Johnstone on Saturday is a must. We need to look forward to the Ibrox fixture in two weeks with a good win under our belts.

And before even all that, work is needing done in the transfer market. There’s plenty to keep us focused in the next two weeks. Let’s hope that the team don’t take their eye off the ball again.