Was I the only one who got that sinking feeling on Sunday?
And I’m not just talking about my accumulator being done by the first game of the day.
No it was mostly to do with an almost laughably bad penalty call by referee Don Robertson at Dingwall.
I mean it really was a howler.
Schalk hurled himself into the air and then the ground with the nearest Celtic player to him, Erik Sviatchenko, about 2 feet way. It looked bad in real time. It was even worse in slow motion. Robertson himself looked almost bemused that he was giving it.
Sort of like a passenger in his own body.
The linesmen and 4th official both had “don’t look at me” written all over them.
The Ross County players all looked like they’d won 50 quid off a scratch card. Meanwhile guilty as sin Schalk tiptoed away quietly feigning innocence like a 10 year old who’d just been caught taking a swatch of his best friend’s mum in the shower. All in all it was pretty farcical.
Probably the worst decision we’ve seen up here in how obviously wrong it was since Steve McLean watched up close as Caley Thistle’s Josh Meekings used his arm to deflect the ball off the line in the 2015 Scottish Cup semi-final from a close range Leigh Griffiths effort.
While everyone was waiting for Meekings to be instructed it was time for an early bath, McLean waved ‘play on’.
Celtic went on to lose the game and a chance at the treble.
In many ways Ronny Delia never recovered.
The circumstances on Sunday were of course different. The game was more or less meaningless for Celtic. The League Championship was in the bags weeks ago. Even a draw retained the now 40 game long unbeaten domestic run with this only the 4th match tied.
In what has been a regular occurrence in the past three games Celtic struggled to get out of 2nd gear against a battling Ross County team desperate for points to stave off relegation. Under normal circumstances such an incident could merely be put down to par for the course low standard Scottish officiating. But the worry is that it’s all adding up to something more. And by that I mean what could potentially take place on Sunday.
It’s that feeling that something insidious could be lingering in the background.
Just waiting to come out.
Such talk is easily put down to paranoia but then you remember Steve McLean’s blunder extraordinaire two years ago and Don Robertson’s woeful call this past weekend. The thing is ‘insidious’ would indicate a level of subtlety.
The aforementioned decisions were anything but.
Both were almost transparent.
Added to that we have to contend with Willie Collum for the upcoming semi-final. To get straight to it Collum is a poor referee. The problem is he thinks he’s a good one and the SFA plus UEFA have aided and abetted him in this fantasy. His decision making is poor. He isn’t considered or concise. He’s reactionary and emotive. If something is close he wouldn’t take a breath and weigh it up never mind consult his fellow officials for advice. No he just goes with his gut.
Willie I fear likes the attention.
He enjoys the brouhaha that goes with controversial and bad referring calls.
Just in case there was any doubt ask Richie Foran what his feelings on him are after another in a long list of poor calls on Saturday when Collum decided he was the only man in Fir Park to see the ball go over the line for Motherwell’s 3rd goal.
They say you can’t blow the whistle unless you’re 100% sure.
But Willie missed that lesson.
Or just chose to ignore it.
Either way he strode confidently back to the centre circle whilst the Inverness players raged at the injustice and ‘Well players and fans alike scratched their heads in celebration.
I’m pretty sure any post match criticisms and pesky replays were brushed aside.
Don’t expect any better on Sunday, not from a guy who gave a penalty against us, in a Rangers game, in October 2010 although he never saw the incident as he was looking in the other direction when it happened. Last year, the SPL demoted him for three matches because of dire decision-making.
Now he has a cup semi final.
Willie will be determined to stand up to the baying masses at Hampden. And he’ll also be excited at the thought of dominating the following days back pages as the man who stopped Celtic’s undefeated Juggernaut, not to mention a chance at the treble.
Some will view this past weekend’s faux pas’s with some relief.
As if the spotlight is now on and therefore there can be no excuses for nonsense on Sunday.
Brendan is clearly raging. Not even his deep dark tan could suppress the red face of rage that came out when the whistle went.
For the first time BR got a taste of questionable decision making north of the border. He clearly isn’t going to take it lying down. Scott Brown did himself no favours by losing the rag but all of this could have been avoided in the first place if Don Robertson had done his job right and not blew his whistle without giving himself a millisecond to consider what he’d just witnessed.
Alas, with this fresh in the memory there’s only one thing for it.
Celtic are going to have to put the light blues to the sword on Sunday in such a way as to invalidate the man in black’s influence.
The individual battles will have to be won and the ball dominated.
Chances when they come up must be taken.
There can be no repeats of the previous 3 encounters where chances galore have been passed up.
A repeat of last year’s semi where despite being outplayed Celtic still recorded an incredible 33 shots on goal with 10 on target yet only hit the net twice must also be avoided.
If Paddy Robert’s gets sight of an open goal this time he must bury it.
There can’t even be a rerun of the 2015 League Cup semi final where a superior Celtic team settled for a 2-0 half time lead and on a poor surface against even poorer opposition decided against going for the jugular. No it’ll have to be a revisit to the sort of performance and finishing which was delivered during the 5-1 annihilation back in September.
Don’t give Willie a chance to have his moment in the sun.
Bury them Celtic, early, without remorse.
It’s the only way to be sure.
Paul Cassidy is looking forward to the semi-final, but he wants us to finish it early.