JOHN HARTSON does not envy the job that referees have on their hands but the former Celtic striker fears that inconsistent officiating could ultimately swing the title race. 

Ange Postecolgou’s side hold a three-point lead over Rangers with eight league games left to play and refereeing performances have been coming under increasing scrutiny in recent weeks. 

Hartson said: "Are they better than when I played? I would just say that it is a very difficult job. I wouldn’t want to be a referee. It is ridiculously hard to get all the calls right.

"They must rely on their linesmen to help him. If the ref’s 50 yards away or 40 yards, or 30 yards, the linesman should be up to speed if he is on that side."

Celtic secured a 3-1 win at Livingston on Sunday where David Martindale claimed Nick Walsh overruled his linesman (who was standing a few yards away from the incident) to incorrectly award the visitors a corner, from which they opened the scoring, while the ball struck the arm of Tom Rogic shortly before Nicky Devlin's own goal.

“That’s a disgrace from the referee,” Hartson said of Walsh’s call to overrule his assistant. “The linesman can see it. That’s not acceptable. That is unbelievable to think that. I didn’t know that. Unbelievable. 

“That is an incredible thing to do from a referee. If I’ve got somebody in my corner to help me, and he’s seen it and got a better view of it than I have, surely I’m using his help? Using that extra pair of eyes. I can’t believe that’s happened really.

"But other than that you go on about the game and the performance and the result and it could have been seven [on Sunday].  You are clutching at straws really going on about the Rogic handball.

"The ball was whacked at his hand - how do you get your hand out of that? If he is running and the ball smashes against his hand…

"Rather than talk about Celtic’s brilliant play, and how well they did, we are talking about refereeing decisions."

Rangers’ 1-0 win over Aberdeen on Saturday was not without controversy either, with Dons manager Jim Goodwin claiming Calvin Ramsey had been fouled in the build-up to the game' only goal.

"Again, you look at the television [highlight] last night and see that Lewis Ferguson got booked for standing in front of a player then five minutes later Joe Aribo does it and doesn’t get booked," Hartson said. 

“All of a sudden, where do you stand on that? It’s like everybody’s going on about Celtic, ‘they’ve got the referee again’, but obviously there is a foul in the build-up to Rangers goal against Aberdeen. 

“Jim Goodwin said it: there was a foul by Calvin Bassey on Calvin Ramsay, and they go away and score. It’s tit for tat. Get the decisions right and there is none of this going at each other and arguing.” 

When the point was put to him that the title race could be settled by an officiating error, Hartson replied: “It might well do with the standard of referees. 

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it was decided by refereeing decisions. I think we all have to get prepared for that. 

“I’ve had it myself, two goals against Rangers. I was three yards onside in the League Cup final [of 2003]. I still feel sick every time I look at it. But I have let it go.” 

John Hartson was promoting exclusively live Premier Sports coverage of Dundee v Rangers this Sunday from 3.30pm and Dundee United v Celtic this Monday from 7.15pm. Premier Sports is available on Sky, Virgin TV and the Premier Player from £12.99 per month, and on Amazon Prime as an add-on subscription.