Debatable Decisions SPL – Week 4

Week Four of the SPL season and after three weeks of debate we finally come across a clean sweep of correct decisions. Hats off to the referees of Scotland and congratulations on a job well done. Not sure if I can see it lasting, though…..

Aberdeen – Hearts

Possible Red Card For Hearts

Mike – Didn’t deny an obvious goalscoring chance so more than yellow would be really harsh.

Gary – Nope I don’t think it was a red card. Wasn’t a goal scoring chance and it wasn’t last man. As you can see Webster is only jogging back a little and could have easily got back in time. So for me it’s the correct decision.

Simon – It’s way out wide and the defender looks to have more than enough pace to track back and at least make life difficult for the attacker. It’s not a clear goalscoring opportunity, so there’s no way it could be a red.

Overall Verdict – Correct Decision

Motherwell – St Mirren

Hutchinson Two Yellows

Mike – The tackle that earned the second yellow was worthy of a red in my opinion. So it’s a correct decision either way.

Gary – Yeah can’t argue with those two. The first he’s obviously said something to the ref and the ref has felt it deserved a card. The second yellow his studs are into the foot of the St Mirren forward. So correct decision.

Simon – We don’t see what has happened off the ball to cause the reaction, but that doesn’t matter because if he’s spoken out of turn to the referee then he deserves his first yellow and his second yellow could easily have been a straight red.

Overall Verdict – Correct Decision

Inverness CT – Celtic

Free Kick For Celtic Goal

Mike – Diificult to tell how much contact there is. Given the way the defender puts his body in and how close the referee is I’m going to say correct decision and trust the referee saw more than we could.

Gary – For me it’s a dive, there isn’t contact from the Inverness defender and therefore Celtic shouldn’t have had a free-kick which led to the goal.

Simon – It’s not particularly clear how much contact there is in this challenge, but there is contact and I reckon there’s probably just enough contact to award a free kick.

Overall Verdict – Correct Decision

Dundee – Ross County

Ross County Penalty Awarded

Mike – The defender simply runs into the attacker with no apparent attempt to play the ball.

Gary – Yes correct decision, the Dundee defender makes no effort to win the ball, in fact he just body checks the Ross County man and the penalty was the correct decision.

Simon – Not much to debate about this one. It’s pretty obvious that the striker has been barged over and a penalty was the only acceptable outcome.

Overall Verdict – Correct Decision

Kilmarnock – Dundee United

Kilmarnock Penalty Awarded

Mike – Looked to me like the Killie player was pulling just as much as the Gary Mackay-Steven was.

Gary – Think it was the correct decision, the Killie player has left him and then the Dundee United man has just tangled legs with him and brought him down. Correct decision, even the Dundee united man accepts the punishment without an argument.

Simon – You can tell by the reaction of the Dundee United players that they were expecting a spot kick to be awarded, which says it all really.

Overall Verdict – Correct Decision

Hibernian – St Johnstone

Hibs Goal, Over Line?

Mike – I’m going to say correct. It happens very quickly and even with a slow motion replay it’s difficult to tell where the ball is in relation to the line but it looks over to me.

Gary – It’s hard to see from the camera angles but I’d say that the ball was just over the line, from the angle I saw. But as I said it’s far too hard to say yes or no, so on the evidence I’d have to go with Correct decision.

Simon – These are always really difficult to judge because without a camera on the goalline there’s no way of knowing for definite and you have to do some guessing. That said, the angle of Davidson’s body and foot make it look like he’s stretching back over the line, so I reckon it was just over.

Overall Verdict – Correct Decision

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You can follow our five judges on Twitter. Mike – @19Mikey67, Robert – @RMcCracken91, Gary – @Linton1388, Paul – @Steakheed, Simon – @SFurnivall.

Tags: Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee, Dundee United, Hearts, Hibs, ICT, Kilmarnock, Motherwell, Ross County, St Johnstone, St Mirren