Another refereeing blunder over a penalty decision in a Celtic match highlighted the case for introducing video evidence according to the player who committed the offence but this time there was agreement all round that it had not affected the match as the champions eased Dundee United aside 3-0 at Tannadice.

 

John Rankin, the home team's experienced midfielder, readily admitted to what he described as a "professional foul" in abbreviating former clubmate Gary Mackay-Steven's run, late in the second half and his calculation had included stopping him short of the penalty area.

However he defended Willie Collum, the match referee who awarded a penalty when contact was clearly made short of the area, pointing out how difficult such decisions are.

"We've seen it last week and we've seen it again this week. Until we bring video evidence into the game and give a referee a chance to see it's just one of those things and it's probably why everyone loves football so much," said Rankin.

"Look it a week ago, it turned the other way and this week it's a sore one to take for us because we know it's not a penalty... but there are 11 of us and we all made mistakes today. Willie made one and he's a human being and we move on."

The only significant consequence of the decision was that it eased Leigh Griffiths' task of completing his second hat-trick in four matches but the way the mistake was received by United also served to underline just how much the previous week's controversy had do with the emotions surrounding the consequences of decisions rather than the processes themselves.

Jackie McNamara, the former Celtic player who is now United's manager and has had his issues with how incidents have been handled in clashes between the sides this year, was similarly philosophical, making light of the suggestion that he might be tempted to write to the SFA to ask for clarification.

"You'll not get me doing that. I've got enough to worry about without writing to people," he laughed.

His Celtic counterpart Ronny Deila meanwhile noted that the implications of the mistake had been very different to those when Steven McLean, Collum's refereeing colleague, failed to see the handball that should have resulted in a penalty for Celtic and a red card for Josh Meekings when Celtic were leading the previous Sunday's Scottish Cup semi-final 1-0.

"I don't think even if it was wrong it would have affected the game," the Norwegian said of yesterday's decision.

"If it had been one zero I understand that there could be an issue, but it was the third goal so I don't mind.

"What happened last Sunday was not normal. It's a totally different thing. I very rarely talk about decisions but last Sunday it was a thing that really, really affected the game. We had full control, we were one nil up and we had goal refs also. So I don't think you can say this is the same as what happened today if that was wrong or right."

He added that there is a major difference between decisions made in one-off knockout matches and those in league competitions where there is greater scope for luck to even out.

"The cup is one game, it's different, but in 38 games the best team will win again in the end," he observed.