Joe Hart has been the subject of debate on social media after he was accused of going down too easily against Motherwell. But it seemed John Beaton was having none of it as the two were spotted in a heated discussion afterwards.
Celtic battled to a 2-1 victory over the Fir Park side but had to do it the hard way after Kyogo 's opener was cancelled out by a calamitous OG from Josip Juranovic. Reo Hatate eventually gave them the victory but the game wasn't without its major talking points either. Celtic felt they were denied a clear penalty after going 2-1 up when Ricki Lamie appeared to handle Liel Abada's cross, while captain Callum McGregor was shown a late red card.
There was plenty of drama on the Parkhead pitch so one moment involving home keeper Hart largely went under the radar in all the post-match debate. It came early in the second half with Motherwell on the attack as Hart comes out to deal with a cross. He finds himself in no man's land, his attempt to clear the ball initially foiled by Sondre Solholm, before recovering and glancing up at the defender. He then recovers and moves towards him, and after his head brushes the Norwegian's ribcage, he takes a step back before collapsing in an unnatural direction.
With Motherwell on the attack and Hart stranded miles from his goalline, some fans sharing the footage on social media were quick to point out that this was likely a crafty decision from the veteran stopper to con whistler Beaton to stop the play before the visitors could score.
One fan wrote:: "He flapped at the cross was out of position and moved into the geezers armpit, saw he was struggling and couldn’t make a save so went down and feigned an injury."
And another viewer reckons it's part of a wider "trend," noting: "Have noticed a trend developing in matches. A defence under pressure for a period. Ball played into the box. Defender heads it clear of the area, falls down, then does not get up. Referee has to stop the match to allow player to be assessed."
As it happened, any such efforts were unnecessary as Kevin van Veen immediately ballooned the ball over the bar, but it seemingly didn't go unnoticed by whistler Beaton. After a quick check-up by the Parkhead medical team deemed Hart fit to play on, he was spotted in a heated discussion with the man in the middle.
Hart was seen gesturing to where the incident took place - perhaps claiming a foul for the initial challenge by Solholm. In the end though play resumed without further incident as Hart saw out the 90 minutes and his team went on to claim an important win.
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