Chris Sutton has defended the controversial award of the late penalty that helped keep Celtic’s Scottish Premiership title hopes alive.
Martin O’Neill’s side trailed to Elliot Watt’s opener and were then pegged back by Liam Gordon’s late equaliser on a night of high drama in Motherwell, before a VAR-assisted penalty from Kelechi Ihenacho sealed a 3-2 win for the visitors with the last kick of the ball.
Motherwell manager Jens Berthel Askou described John Beaton’s penalty award as ‘one of the worst decisions’ he had ever seen, but the outcome is that Celtic will pip Hearts if they beat long-time leaders Hearts at Parkhead on Saturday.
Until referee Beaton was summoned to the monitor by Andrew Dallas for a handball call against former Hearts midfielder Sam Nicholson, the Hoops were heading into a title decider knowing they would need to win by three goals.
With the odds of Celtic spoiling the Hearts fairytale on the final day now significantly reduced, Sutton believes the fallout from the award of what he felt was a legitimate spot kick has been skewed.
He wrote on X: ‘Now the dust has settled, the reaction from many high profile people is way over the top.
‘John Beaton was advised to go to the monitor and saw that the ball hit the arm in an unnatural position Bottom line is people would hate to see Celtic win the title again and that is all.’
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Among those who felt Motherwell, and by proxy Hearts, were hard done by was Gary Lineker who suggested ‘this might be the worst VAR decision I’ve seen (and there’s a lot of competition). Extraordinary given the significance.’
Sutton gave that verdict short shrift, however, arguing that particular set of circumstances is ‘what VAR is there for’.
O’Neill, whose side initially turned the game through goals from Daizen Maeda and Benjamin Nygren, said: ‘I think we knew we had to win both matches otherwise it was done for. It’s exciting to take it into the final game and I think the players have good belief that they can do it. And that’s very, very important.
‘We have to win the game. Hearts don’t but at least we’ve taken it there. It’s nice to take it into the final game which looked a long way off five or six weeks ago.
‘I think we have got a chance, we’re at home. The atmosphere will be fantastic.’
When asked about the penalty decision, O’Neill said: ‘The lads have a little monitor. It’s very small. I can’t really see it. I need another pair of glasses to see it. The lads thought it was a handball, an elbow as well too.’
Askou, whose side saw European qualification slip from their grasp in the closing stages, was in total disagreement.
‘I think it’s one of the worst decisions I’ve seen in my career, taking everything into consideration,’ the Dane said.
‘I thought I’d seen it all this season, but I hadn’t.
‘If we keep making calls that we have done too many times, we will end up being ridiculed as a football country and I don’t think we deserve that because in so many ways this country is taking steps in the right direction, especially this season. It’s a shame.
‘Even watching it from a distance I was shocked he even got called to the monitor because you can see he connects with his head.
‘The reason you could find a picture where it hits his finger, it’s because he connects with Trusty and his arm gets pushed in the direction where he’s heading the ball. Even if he finds a connection with the arm, it’s not a penalty.’