COLLUM PEN SNUB WAS A RIGHT OD CALL
Mohamed Elyounoussi’s opener in yesterday’s Old Firm stalemate.
Gers hit back through Alfredo Morelos but Kennedy insists the whistler botched the crucial call.
The caretaker-boss said: “It was disappointing. In games like this, these calls are really important.
“Willie will have his opinion on it, other people might think differently, but we are sure it was a penalty.
“I spoke to Odsonne. In terms of that contact, if you get any sort of contact in the box when a player comes flying at you at that speed.
“If you slow it down you can say: ‘Oh, I’m not really sure much was there’. If you play it full speed, the player comes recklessly in, knocks you off balance and just touches you enough to go over. That’s what happened.
“He knocked him over. If he doesn’t go over, he has got the ball, he scores a goal. There was no need for him to go down. He is a goalscorer, he wants to score as many as possible.
“He’s not that type of player. We feel aggrieved we didn’t get a penalty kick, but we’ve got to accept that and look at the bigger picture of the performance, which was good.”
Kennedy was frustrated by the draw after Celtic created enough chances to beat their old foes but he believes the Hoops can take a lot from the display as they look to finish the campaign on a high by lifting the Scottish Cup.
He said: “We showed our level, that we are more than capable of competing and being the better team.
“But you’ve got to do the other side which is get results. It’s disappointing, but I’m not going to let that get us down because I want the players to reflect on performance, the attitude they had, the control.
“As time progresses we will fine tune the stuff that gets us more clinical at the top end and eradicates us losing goals. As a general base, I’m very happy with the way we played.
“There are little bits we need to fix and that will be good for us going forward.”
Kennedy insisted Celts bossed the clash but came up against an inspired Allan McGregor.
He said: “It was a high level performance in terms of the way we controlled the game. We were dominant for most of the game.
“It was a really great goal we scored, terrific. It was an area we wanted to exploit and it came off.
“I was disappointed with the goal we conceded, but our reaction was good. We got ourselves back in the game, controlled the ball and weren’t too nervy. We built our way back in and started creating chances.
“McGregor has come up with a couple of good saves, we had opportunities we didn’t quite capitalise on.
“Rangers had the goal and a few set-plays that caused messiness in the box. Other than that they didn’t have too much more. We have a good base and a level to move forward.”