John Hartson mocks referee decision on social media after Rangers draw 2-2 v Celtic
John Hartson has blasted the officials for not awarding Celtic a penalty in the 2-2 draw with Rangers at Ibrox, branding it an “unbelievable decision.”
Celtic took the lead after four minutes before Rangers battled back in the second half, only for the visitors to snatch an equaliser in the latter stages of the game for the teams to share the points.
But before they made it 2-2 Rangers defender Connor Goldson appeared to handle the ball in the box when trying to block a shot, only for VAR to review the incident and award nothing, leaving ex-Celtic striker Hartson furious.
“Brilliant save from Goldson.. unbelieveable decision,” he wrote on his personal Twitter account, alongside an image of the handball and a laughing emoji.
Never a pen
A still image always says a thousand words, but it never gives context to what happened before the event and that’s the issue here.
Goldson is standing less than two yards away from the ball when it’s struck by the Celtic attacker and he lifts his hands as an instinct.
There is minimal contact with the ball, but the distance between himself and the ball at the time of it being struck means there is no time for him to react anyway, and there’s zero intent behind it.
Had that penalty incident occurred in the other box and Cameron Carter-Vickers had been the man to have his hands up, you can be sure that Hartson wouldn’t be suggesting the officials had done something wrong.
It was the right decision by the officials who ultimately had a pretty good game overall, and both teams will feel they deserved more than just one point.
In other Rangers news, Chris Sutton fumes at officials for major VAR controversy vs Celtic