MICHAEL BEALE has praised referee John Beaton for his handling of the Old Firm clash following another round of VAR comments and controversies in recent days.
Celtic left it late to snatch a point at Ibrox as a Kyogo Furuhashi effort denied Beale's side after goals from Ryan Kent and James Tavernier had cancelled out Daizen Maeda's early opener.
But the visitors were left incensed at Beaton's call not to award a penalty when the ball struck the hand of Connor Goldson as he protected his face from a close-range Carl Starfelt strike.
The fall-out this week has been typical of Scottish football and life in the Old Firm goldfish bowl but Beale believes the on-field team and VAR officials can be pleased with their efforts on derby day.
Beale said: "We all wanted it, now we’ve got it and we’re not sure if we want it or not. I think that’s where we’re at.
"At the time, I don’t see it till after the game so I wasn’t sure at the time whether it was or wasn’t.
"I seen one player for them appeal for it, not everybody, and then you read the law and the law says one thing and it’s how that law is then perceived. The officials on the day perceived it a certain way.
"I thought, actually, John and the officials that were there had a good game. For an Old Firm game I thought they managed the game really well.
"He didn’t bang cards out early. I thought it was a cracking game, two teams went head-to-head for the full 90 minutes and I thought John and the other officials managed the game very well.
"I actually thought that when the game ended. There’s always some things you think that go for you or against you but when you read the rule it seems like they got it to the letter."
