Celtic penalty right, Hearts wrongly denied - SFA
Summary
The Scottish Football Association (SFA) reviewed several recent penalty decisions involving Celtic and Hearts. They confirmed that a late penalty awarded to Celtic against Motherwell was correct, while a penalty claim by Hearts was wrongly denied. They also supported referees' decisions in other key match incidents, including in the Old Firm derby between Celtic and Rangers.Key Facts
- Celtic received a late penalty against Motherwell after Sam Nicholson was judged to have handled the ball unnaturally.
- Hearts were denied a penalty after Alexandros Kyziridis appeared to be tripped, though the referee did not see enough to award a spot-kick.
- The SFA head of refereeing agreed the Celtic penalty decision was consistent with handball rules about the arm being in an unnatural position.
- Referee Steven McLean’s decision not to give Hearts a penalty in one case was questioned, with the referee expected to award it after viewing the replay.
- A penalty claim against Motherwell’s Emmanuel Longelo was correctly rejected because the ball hit above the "t-shirt line," which means no handball foul.
- Two decisions in Celtic’s 3-1 win over Rangers were supported, including an offside call and a booking for a reckless tackle.
- A push on player Benjamin Nygren by Hibernian’s Josh Campbell was judged a penalty but was not given during the game.
- The SFA will discuss some of these controversial calls further with referees before the next season.
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