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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
David Irvine

Celtic defender Ralston responds to Rangers VAR penalty call fallout

Anthony Ralston has insisted the VAR fallout over the non-penalty in Celtic's Premier Sports Cup final over Rangers has not put a dampener on their triumph.

The Celtic full-back has claimed there hasn't been a second thought on the major flashpoint when John Beaton awarded a free-kick for a foul on Vaclav Cerny by Liam Scales.

Replays showed the Rangers winger had his foot on the line when he was pulled down with Willie Collum confessing the wrong decision was made.

Alan Muir on VAR did not intervene on the incident with the free-kick awarded instead of a penalty in extra-time.

New Rangers CEO Patrick Stewart had questioned the decision-making process as he discussed the matter with Willie Collum at the Scottish FA.

The ref chief then admitted an "unacceptable" error had been made in his VAR Review Show on Thursday.


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However, Ralston has vowed Celtic celebrations have not been sidetracked by the saga.

"Not overly," he said of whether he was surprised by the aftermath of the incident. "It's the football world, there are going to be opinions, and there are going to be different views on things, but as players, we are just solely focused on the football and getting the job done, which I've said we're delighted that we've done. It's not something that we're going to do well on, to be honest."

On whether any notice was taken of the matter, Ralston added: "If I'm being honest, not overly. It's not a place to do that.

"From my point of view, I didn't look too much into it after the game. There was an on-field decision made at the time, which isn't down to us to make as players. There wasn't much said about it till after the game when ultimately we'd won.

"So it's part and parcel of football. I can't speak on behalf of the other lads, I don't take much to do with it, to be honest. The officials do that side of it and the important thing for us is we had a job to do, which was win the trophy, which we're all delighted that we've managed to do."

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