DON Cowie has expressed his unhappiness at the free-kick which Celtic were awarded before their late winning goal against his Ross County side in their William Hill Premiership match at the Global Energy Stadium this afternoon.
Cowie was furious when referee Kevin Clancy ruled that Jordan White had fouled Luke McCowan towards the end of the closely-contested league encounter in Dingwall because he felt the challenge did not merit it.
The visitors took full advantage of the decision – Alistair Johnston sent Nicolas Kuhn charging down the right flank in the 88th minute and the winger cut inside and slotted into the bottom left corner to secure a hard-fought 2-1 triumph.
The match official had awarded County a penalty just before half-time after watching a replay of a Liam Scales handball back on his pitchside monitor.
He then ordered the spot kick to be retaken when a VAR check showed that Kasper Schmeichel had come off his line before Ronan Hale had made contact with the ball.
But Cowie, whose charges took the lead when Hale netted his second penalty attempt, admitted he was not pleased when Clancy gave Celtic a free-kick before their all-important second goal.
“The result was disappointing for the players with the effort they have put in again,” he said. “They kept a top quality side relatively quiet in terms of scoring opportunities. We said beforehand it was about being compact and our concentration levels and I saw that in abundance in the group.
“The equaliser was a bit fortunate, and then they score a goal from a foul that I didn’t think was a foul. At that stage, we were a little bit out of shape. A good team punishes you in that situation which is what happened.
“But at the time I didn’t think it was a free kick, and I’ve seen it again and it’s not. I asked the referee about it and got no response. He’s got his opinion, and I’ve got mine. We can still react and prevent the goal, but it’s disappointing that the goal goes against us.
“I don’t think they can check it, because once the free kick is given it’s a new phase of play. It’s up to us to react to that situation. We were slightly stretched, and two passes later they score.”
Hale, a summer signing from Cliftonville in his native Northern Ireland, took his tally for the 2024/25 campaign to seven with his penalty and Cowie lauded the forward’s contribution to County’s cause this term.
“I’ve said it time and time again, he’s a real threat,” he said. “He’s a goalscorer who has made a great start to his career with us. He showed great character to step up and score another important goal for us. His goal gave us belief and energy going into half time, and something to hang on to. He has been fantastic since he came to the club.”
County travel to Perth to take on St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park in their first Premiership game after the international break and former Scotland midfielder Cowie believes they will take to the field with confidence despite the Celtic loss.
“It was a good performance and it’s my job to remind the group that,” he said. “Naturally they’re really disappointed to get nothing from the game, but when we reflect and speak about it they will realise how good they were as a group.
“They defended for each other, which you have to do against a top quality team. That will give us great belief going into this next group of games that we’ve got.
“For us it was about creating a gameplan to be tight, and to try and frustrate them, and I thought we did that really well. I’m just disappointed for the boys that they’ve got nothing to show for it in the end.”
