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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Ewan Paton

Kilmarnock vs Celtic flashpoints draws mixed red card verdicts

Bobby Madden has weighed in on some controversial flashpoints during Celtic's win over Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership yesterday.

Brendan Rodgers' side ran out 2-0 winners at Rugby Park in what was a fiercely competitive game, with Derek McInnes' side giving as good as they got.

Callum McGregor and Nicolas Kuhn got the goals, as a combination of poor finishing by Killie and Kasper Schmeichel prevented the Ayrshire side from scoring at the other end.

It was another three points for the champions, who returned to the summit of the table, ahead of Aberdeen on goal difference once again.

But there were some tasty flashpoints throughout the game that also caught the eye - with just ONE of those meriting a red card in the eyes of ex-referee Madden.

The former SFA official believes Reo Hatate should've been sent off by referee Nick Walsh for his reckless lunge on Liam Donnelly. 

The Japanese star went in on the Northern Ireland international at speed, catching him high near his knee.

Walsh brandished a booking to Hatate, who Kris Boyd insists was lucky to stay on the park. Much to the dismay of the Killie faithful, VAR looked at the incident and waved play on with no on-field review recommended.

Taking to his Instagram story, Madden gave his take on what he saw. 

He said: "Here you see the Celtic player misjudge the ball and then lunges in, makes contact with the studs on the knee.

"Undoubtedly this should be a red card for serious foul play as it endangers the safety of the opponent.

"The contact is there so a red card should have been recommended by VAR."


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The two other flashpoints in question concerned challenges by Killie players on Celtic's Adam Idah and Schmeichel respectively. 

Firstly, inside the opening 10 minutes of the encounter, Idah was caught by  Joe Wright as the defender jumped up to win a header from a Killie free kick. 

The Welshman unintentionally caught the forward as he jumped to win the ball, resulting in a burst nose for Idah.

Wright was booked, and Madden agreed. He said: "So consideration for the referee is does the Kilmarnock player use his arm as a weapon or as a tool?

"I think you can see he never once looks at the Celtic player using the arm for leverage so the yellow for reckless is correct."

And the final incident came towards the end of the game as Donnelly motioned his elbow towards Schmeichel. 

The midfielder rushed in to close down the Danish keeper on the ball near his own goal mouth.

He made no connection, but his arm flailed out towards the 38-year-old, with the likes of Billy Dodds insisting Donnelly was a lucky boy that he didn't catch Schmeichel. 

Madden believes a yellow card was sufficient here, which Walsh did deliver on the pitch. 

Madden said: "Yellow card correct. It shows a disregard for the opponent - strike or attempt to strike was removed from the laws as a red card 10 years ago.

"So yellow for disregard, correct."

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