ALAN Archibald, the Partick Thistle manager, was at a loss last night to explain why referee Andrew Dallas had failed to award his side a last-minute penalty against Nir Bitton after the Israeli appeared to impede Thistle sub Miles Storey in the box.
With the Parkhead side leading courtesy of Olivier Ntcham’s deflected first-half volley, awarding the spot kick would have given the Maryhill outfit a precious chance for an equaliser they would scarcely have merited, but while Archibald said it was foul, he joked that Thistle had no chance of getting an award, not least as they were given one in midweek in the Betfred Cup against St Johnstone.
“It is a foul anywhere else on the pitch, so I don’t know why he has not given it,” said Archibald. “It is a big call because it is the last minute of the game against Celtic but we got a penalty the other night and I don’t think we will get two penalties in four days. We’ve had about three in three years.
“I am past anger,” he added. “I didn’t expect to get it. We are at Partick Thistle, with the small club mentality, I don’t think you expect it in the last minute against Celtic.”
His opposite number Brendan Rodgers said of the incident: “From where I was, it looked as though he [Bitton] has got a nick on the ball.
“But sometimes away from home, you never know. ”
For all Celtic’s dominance, Kris Doolan also spurned a glorious opening, heading over from six yards from a Christie Elliot cross.
But Archibald excused his talisman for the miss.
“I always knew as long as it was 1-0 we would get a chance in the game and we have to take it,” he said. “Kris has barely trained all week, yesterday was the first day he trained. I will give him a bit of leeway this time but he had better get the next one.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel