Rodgers wonders whether a lengthy ban is on the cards for Ross County thug

BRENDAN RODGERS hit out at Ross County thug Andrew Davies for the wild, reckless assault on Scott Brown yesterday that saw the relegation certainties captain seeing red – and he walked of with even raising a protect to referee Steven McLean.

Seldom has Celtic Park witnessed such a horrendous act of violence and the SFA’s Compliance Officer must now surely look at the ‘tackle’ and issue a lengthy ban for what can only be described as a pre-meditated stamp that was designed to seriously injure the Celtic captain, who has now been seen THREE opponents red carded for tackles against him in recent weeks.

While one was rightly overturned by Motherwell’s appeal, you have to think back to the spotlight that Hearts ‘dark-arts’ boss Craig Levein put on the Celtic skipper – for simply winning the ball in a legitimate tackle against the 16 year old in the Hearts midfield.

The Celtic manager couldn’t hide his anger after the game.

“It was a really, really bad challenge. I feel for the Ross County staff, the guys who are trying to keep this team in the league.

“I feel for the supporters travelling all the way down. You’ve got your captain who’s probably got his most important game on Tuesday night and he makes a really, really poor challenge.

“Jozo Simunovic gets two games for a slight elbow, I don’t know what that’ll be. I really feel for the staff and the supporters. And the players, to lose your captain – who is a good player – to a really poor challenge.

“As you saw, Scott got up and got on with the game. There is no doubt the challenge on him today was disgraceful.

“We’ve seen a lot of challenges where there’s question marks over them – but that there today was one of the worst I’ve seen since I’ve been up here.

“There’s no intent to play the ball there. That was a really dangerous challenge – and only someone of that toughness and robustness could get up and play on.

“Scott’s aggressive of course, but he’s fair and he’s honest. He’s a guy that plays with an authority and an aggression.

“We want to have eleven players on the pitch but it’s always controlled. There’s one or two maybe trying to make a name for themselves by obviously trying to put those sort of tackles in.

“But Scott’s unique – he’s absolutely brilliant for us. He eventually got up and got on the with the game and controlled it.”

Just like in the goalless draw at Motherwell, Celtic faced 10 men in the second half yesterday after the thug was sent off. And Rodgers noted that the team had learned a lesson in failing to break down the ten men at Motherwell and that was put to good use yesterday.

“In the second-half, there’s a question being asked to do similar to what we did at Motherwell.

“Could we learn? Could we improve from the second-half at Motherwell? And we did that.

“We scored two good goals, won the ball back quickly, counter-pressed and had lots of chances.”

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About Author

The Celtic Star founder and editor, who has edited numerous Celtic books over the past decade or so including several from Lisbon Lions, Willie Wallace, Tommy Gemmell and Jim Craig. Earliest Celtic memories include a win over East Fife at Celtic Park and the 4-1 League Cup loss to Partick Thistle as a 6 year old. Best game? Easy 4-2, 1979 when Ten Men Won the League. Email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk

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