The Pattern Of Decisions Which Suit Ibrox Continued Again Today At Tannadice.

The pattern of decisions which this website and others have noted through the last few months since VAR was introduced once again repeats itself. It’s a pattern which has two components to it.

The first is decisions which go against Celtic and the second are decisions which favour Ibrox.

The latest involved Connor Goldson, who definitely has a career in netball or volleyball or basketball waiting for him if he ever decides second best to Celtic is wearing him down.

His handball in the first half was looked at by VAR, whose operators didn’t deem it worthy of a second look from the ref.

We are entitled to bang our heads against the wall. It will be interesting to see if Dundee Utd even bother, or if they’ll say some nonsense about how this always happens “against the Glasgow clubs.”

For a while there the burning question sounded like it was going to be “so what exactly isn’t a penalty?” when a series of these went against us. Now the question is more apt; what exactly do you have to do to have one awarded against you?

Wear something other than an Ibrox strip appears to be the correct answer.

Had the Goldson handballs been committed by Cameron Carter Vickers there is no question at all of how those decisions would have gone.

The next time a Celtic player’s hand comes into contact with the ball in the box the ref will not be able to point to the spot quickly enough, but if he hesitates even a bit VAR’s official will be on hand with 120 different angles to convince him that it should have been given after all.

The first half ended 0-0 before the inevitable second half collapse for the Tannadice team. Sides know they have to withstand an early second half onslaught; it’s a lesson we almost paid a high price to learn ourselves, in falling asleep as we did at Ibrox.

But you wonder what the story might have been had Dundee Utd been awarded a spot kick.

We’ll never know.

Because at the time of writing this the Ibrox club remains the only one in the top flight not to have had a penalty awarded against them in this campaign, a run which now extends to 21 games.

And with the way their games are officiated, it could easily be 21 more before there’s even a sniff of an award being given against them, and certainly not in a moment that might matter.