Celtic eyeing up a St. Patrick’s
Day double whammy
By Gerard Donaghy
It could be a double celebration for Celtic fans come St. Patrick’s
Day.
If the Hoops win their four league games between now and then a victory
at Falkirk on March 17 will seal a second consecutive title for Gordon
Strachan’s side.
The latest step on the road to another inevitable title came at Inverness
last Sunday — however it came at a cost.
Steven Pressley, Craig Beattie and Kenny Miller all suffered injuries
while match-winner Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink was dismissed as Celtic
suffered from some of the worst refereeing decisions this season.
The Dutchman received a second yellow for over-exuberantly celebrating
his last-minute winner by rushing into the Celtic crowd but didn’t
leave the pitch and enter the stand.
The letter of the law may say it is a bookable offence but it is an offence
that occurs at most grounds every week and goes unpunished — on
this occasion it was Celtic who bore the brunt of inconsistent refereeing.
Strangely Derek Riordan, Darren O’Dea and Shunsuke Nakamura escaped
punishment despite joining the Dutchman in the celebrations.
The decision was even more galling considering Vennegoor of Hesselink’s
first caution. The striker was booked for dissent after complaining that
Caley’s leveller stemmed from a throw-in wrongly awarded to the
Highland side by referee Iain Brines the ball having clearly gone out
off Caley player Ross Tokely.
Brines had earlier infuriated Celtic fans by failing to spot two blatant
hand-balls one on the edge of the Caley box and one yards inside the penalty
area.
Amid claims of partisan refereeing displays in the past Celtic once famously
hired a psychologist to study Hugh Dallas’ body language in a video
of the infamous final Old Firm game of the 98-99 season — a match
in which Dallas was confronted on the pitch by fans, dismissed two Celtic
players, was struck by a coin and awarded Rangers a controversial penalty
seconds after being treated for his injury.
Celtic fans will also have no trouble remembering Kenny Clark’s
performance in an Old Firm game the following season when Paul Lambert
was booked while being stretchered off with concussion and six cracked
teeth after being struck by Jorg Albertz’s knee when the German
went down in the box — an incident for which Clark awarded Rangers
a penalty.
In recent years though Celtic themselves have had to contend with claims
that it is they who are looked favourably upon by the officials. Indeed
Vennegoor of Hesselink’s red card was only the third shown to a
Celtic player in the league in the past 18 months — Rangers have
received six in that time.
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