(Credit: Imago)

Evan Shaw

Sun 8 March 2026 15:45, UK

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Celtic progressed into the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup as they beat Rangers 4-2 on penalties on Sunday.

The two sides played out a goalless draw across 120 minutes of action at Ibrox, before James Tavernier and Djeidi Gassama both missed from the spot in the penalty shootout.

Both teams exchanged disallowed goals during the game, with Daizen Maeda seeing his first-half header ruled out for offside, before the hosts got their own taste of disappointment when Emmanuel Fernandez’s effort was disallowed for handball in extra time.

They were just two of the biggest refereeing decisions in what was a typically fiery derby, and it was clear to see that there was no love lost between the two sets of players.

Football Insider kept a close eye on the performance of referee Don Robertson during Celtic’s latest defeat, and with that in mind, we picked out three big errors made by the man in the middle.

Mikey Moore lucky to escape without yellow card for first-half incident

Mikey Moore has been a hugely influential player for Rangers in recent weeks, but he should have been walking a tightrope for the majority of the game after an early foul.

The Tottenham loanee slid to take out Benjamin Nygren with 26 minutes on the clock, as he stretched to prevent the Swede from breaking forward and continuing the Bhoys’ counter-attack.

It was a stereotypical professional foul from the youngster, and he was extremely fortunate to escape without a yellow card from the incident, as Robertson seemingly saw no reason to give anything more than a foul.

The official made a clear error with his judgment of the challenge, and that was also reflected by the opinions of Premier Sports co-commentators Alan Hutton and Neil Lennon.

The duo both agreed that Moore should have received a caution for the tackle, with Lennon adding that he was “very fortunate” to avoid further punishment.

Mohamed Diomande booking totally unnecessary

Sunday’s encounter was a typically charged Old Firm occasion, due to the grievances from both teams being carried over from the previous week’s contest.

However, the magnitude of the occasion wasn’t reflected by the refereeing performance in the opening passages of the game.

Mohamed Diomande was the first to go into Robertson’s book in just the second minute of the action, due to a challenge that saw him arrive late and follow through on Julian Araujo after the Celtic man had moved the ball on.

It was little more than a mis-timed challenge from the midfielder, with no malice or danger in the tackle, and there was no need to get the card out for such an incident.

Clashes between Rangers and Celtic need to be allowed to flow properly, and to caution a player for his first foul of the game, in a completely neutral area of the pitch was not needed from Robertson.

Auston Trusty escapes yellow for simulation

Auston Trusty has been suspended for Celtic of late, but he returned to the fold on Sunday and was involved in a flashpoint on the hour mark due to a coming together with Youssef Chermiti.

The Rangers striker was chasing the ball after the award of a free-kick for the visitors, and inadvertently stood on the toe of his opponent with the play stopped and the rest of the players making their way up the pitch.

Trusty promptly went to ground after the incident and began rolling around on the floor in an attempt to get his counterpart sent off, but to no avail.

A confrontation ensued between the two sets of players as a result, with Robertson ultimately not dishing out a punishment to either side after the incident was diffused.

Nevertheless, Trusty can perhaps count himself lucky not to have been booked for simulation, given how insignificant the contact was from Chermiti.