Keith Hackett: Willie Collum must review Celtic vs Dundee after Tomas Cvancara penalty controversy
Keith Hackett believes that Celtic were denied a clear penalty in their Scottish Cup clash against Dundee after Tomas Cvancara was deemed to have been fouled outside the area.
The former PGMOL chief and FIFA referee has exclusively told Football Insider that the head of Scottish officiating, Willie Collum, must review the call after Ryan Lee only gave a free-kick for Luke Graham’s shove on the Celtic striker.
Celtic dramatically came from behind to beat Dundee 2-1 at Parkhead on Saturday to progress to the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup.
Ethan Hamilton’s pearler put the visitors ahead just after the break, and they protected that lead right up until new Hoops signing Junior Adamu scored on his debut in the 97th minute to send the game to extra time.
Sebastian Tounekti then scored during extra-time to see Martin O’Neill’s side through, but their afternoon could have been a lot easier after Cvancara was denied a penalty with the scores locked at 0-0.
Celtic were given a free-kick despite Cvancara appearing to be fouled in the area
It was the 38th minute when Hyun-jun Yang played a pass to Cvancara, who joined Celtic last month, which he picked up on the edge of the left side of Dundee‘s penalty area before being pushed to the floor by centre-back Graham.
Referee Lee instantly blew for a foul and gave the hosts a free-kick, but replays showed that the Czech Republic international looked to be on the outer line of the box when he was shoved.
VAR operator David Dickinson checked and cleared the incident, with Premier Sports host Emma Dodds relaying the clarification that they had received on the call at half-time.
She read out an SFA statement that said: “In the 38th minute, a free kick is correctly awarded outside the penalty area because the pushing began outside and continued inside.
“However, it can only be punished if it is holding that continues inside. Pushing can only be punished at the initial point of contact.”
Hackett fumes at Celtic not getting a penalty as Collum told to take action
Celtic did eventually win the game, but they will feel hard done by the fact that they were not allowed a great chance to take the lead before needing to play an extra 30 minutes to seal their progression.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, former FIFA referee Hackett insisted that the Hoops should have been given a spot kick and urged SFA chief Collum to investigate why VAR did not intervene.
He said: “I do hope that Willie Collum, Head of Referees, will review this decision. Not that it can be changed, of course.
“It is evident from this replay that the player’s foot was clearly inside the penalty area when he was pushed. I therefore believe that a penalty kick should have been awarded.
“To aid this process and come to this conclusion, VAR should have sent the referee to the monitor in order to review the incident.”