BOBBY MADDEN, the referee in last Sunday’s Old Firm game, has been taken out of the spotlight this weekend after being put in charge of a Champ-ionship match.
The 38-year-old came in for fierce criticism following the derby, which ended 1-1, largely because of his decision not to award Celtic an injury-time penalty, which Brendan Rodgers described as “clear-cut”.
Madden has been given the Dunfermline-Ayr United match at East End Park on Saturday. The official is one of Scotland’s top referees and this was his first Glasgow derby.
However others backed Madden, including retired English referee Dermot Gallacher.
He said: “I thought, for his first Old Firm game, the ref did brilliantly. I really did. He kept his nerve, he booked players at the right times.”
The game ended in controversy when Leigh Griffiths was tackled from behind by Clint Hill inside the Rangers penalty box.
Rodgers said: “It was a clear-cut penalty. It’s very frustrating – even more so when Clint Hill tells me he got away with it.”
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