Don Robertson received unlikely support from Hearts’ captain Steven Naismith after Greg Taylor was hauled down in the box yesterday resulting in the ref pointing to the spot. Odsonne Edouard converted the penalty, making it 2-0 Celtic.
Speaking to PLZ Soccer, Naismith said that the decision was right even if it may have been soft. Video footage clearly shows two hands on the back and a clip of the leg, contact established so the player has every right to go down.
“When he’s running at that pace to get into the box, it doesn’t take much to knock him off balance.
“So I’d say it was a penalty. With the footage you get, you don’t necessarily see the full thing.
“People might say it’s soft but it is what it is. He’s put himself in a position where the defender is having to react and knows he’s in trouble.
“He reacts and for me it is a penalty.”
Taylor is a tenacious player and it is unlikely that he would go down unless he needs to. The contact, given the speed he’s going at, is enough to send the player flying.
Naismith, unlike Kris Boyd, appears to have taken a bi-partisan approach to punditry although his teammate Craig Gordon and the ex-Celtic goalie’s BBC colleague Michael Stewart told Sportscene that it wasn’t a penalty. Stewart was unequivocal in his belief that Celtic benefited from a poor refereeing decision, even if there is contact.
“It is definitely proved. It is NOT a penalty. There is nothing in this.
“We are playing football, there is going to be physical contact between players.
“There is no push, there’s no pull, there’s not a clip. So for Don Robertson to give that as a penalty kick it was an extremely harsh one.”
Gordon, who spent six years with Celtic, was also in agreement that it should not have been a spot kick.
“A slight touch on his shoulder? It is very small. No – I’m not saying that is a penalty.”
Not enough contact to go down