Schalk must receive a ban for his dive, says Tierney
NO need to fret. Not a hint of concern. Not even remotely close to a dubious situation. When Alex Schalk threw himself to the ground with Erik Sviatchenko barely within his line of vision, Kieran Tierney fully expected Don Robertson to take swift punitive action. Just not of the kind he meted out.
A yellow card for simulation seemed the only decision to make. For reasons best known to himself, though, the official pointed to the penalty spot.
‘I knew straight away it was a dive,’ said Tierney. ‘It was the same kind of thing with Jamie Walker when we played Hearts in the first game of the season. But this incident was more obvious.
‘I think Walker was banned for it. It should be the same rule for every player.
‘It’s not a nice part of the game, you can expect contact but you’re not going to go down if there’s no contact. It’s as simple as that.
‘If it’s striker’s prerogative to do that then everyone would be falling about. Whenever you get close to people in games, you need to stay on your feet but if someone gets too close then, fair enough.
‘I couldn’t believe it when the referee gave the penalty. Everyone was so surprised.
‘The linesman had a great view and was standing straight in line with it, but obviously not.’
Amid a furious end to the game, the fact Celtic stretched their unbeaten domestic run to 40 games went almost unnoticed. The same applied to Tierney’s quite stunning opening goal.
If the red card Scott Brown picked up for a crude foul on Liam Boyce in stoppage time was inexcusable, you could at least understand the frustration the Celtic skipper felt.
Despite Celtic’s initial fears, Brown, it seems, has got lucky in one sense. The closure of the SFA on Easter Monday means Celtic’s appeal won’t be heard until April 27.
But that was a small crumb of comfort for a Celtic squad clearly livid at seeing a 37th win in 40 domestic matches slip through their fingers.
‘Decisions go against you and there were a few in that game,’ Tierney added. ‘Broony had been kicked up in the air twice and nothing happened. It’s disappointing, it’s also disappointing to concede two goals. Even if one was a bad decision, we still conceded two goals.
‘We will be looking to fix that for next week.’
Brown may be available next week but a ban at some point — most likely kicking in for the league game at Ibrox on April 29 — seems probable.
‘We have good players waiting to come in for every single position,’ Tierney said.
‘Scott has been a rock for us this season in every single game and, if he can’t play in a game, it’s something we’ll need to deal with.’
If Robertson erred horribly at the award of the spot-kick, he surely had no option but to reach for his red card after Brown had clattered Boyce.
‘I sort of knew that someone was coming,’ the Northern Irishman recalled. ‘I was waiting until the last second to try and get out of the way to buy a free-kick and take the pressure off.
‘Once I flicked it, though, I just felt like I’d been hit by a bus, and I looked down and my sock was ripped and my leg is really swollen.
‘I’ve got a couple of weeks now to deal with it and get myself right for the next game.’
It was not the first coming together between the players. In a highly competitive affair, they nipped and niggled at each other throughout.
‘I had been hit on the hand, got it sliced a wee bit and there were a few comments,’ Boyce added. ‘Then just before that (the red card), I had made a challenge from behind on him.
‘These things build up in a game and I think he might have been a wee bit frustrated with the way things went, and it has just happened. ‘I had fouled him and Alex had fouled him straight after, and maybe he was angry at the decision as well and things have just boiled over.
‘I don’t know if he meant to go in and hurt me or anything like that.’