Two BBC pundits have blasted Andrew Dallas’ horrid decision to not show a red card during Celtic’s 4-1 win over Motherwell.
While there are a lot of grey areas in football when it comes to referees making decisions, some of them are blatantly clear. When Devante Cole went studs first into Celtic’s Jeremie Frimpong and connected with his leg, injuring him as a result, it was one of those blatant tackles that deserved a red card.
Not on Andrew Dallas’ watch though as the referee inexplicably produced just a yellow card. And Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson tried to play down the incident following the game. The BBC duo of Michael Stewart and Marvin Bartley were far from impressed though.
As cited by Celts Are Here, Michael Stewart told BBC Sportscene:
"“No, there’s no chance, it was a red card all day long. The ball never moves off the line; it’s not as if Devante Cole is going for the ball and it moves.“He just goes straight into Frimpong, that is a red card all day long. I think Stephen Robinson’s being… I don’t see how you can look at that from Stephen Robinson’s perspective [and say it’s not a red].”"
And his claims were backed up by Marvin Bartley, who also believes that Cole’s reckless challenge on Frimpong deserved a sending off:
"“Frimpong’s obviously going to have a scan on it and see the extent of the damage but, as Mikey’s saying, it’s a red card.“I know Stephen Robinson is trying to protect his player, but there’s an action as well. I don’t get the studding action. It’s so high, and it’s far too dangerous to be doing that.”"
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While none of them called out out Andrew Dallas by name, the decision to not send Cole off was his at the end of the day as he was the man with the cards in his pocket. And it has seen him receive a lot of flak as a result of it.
The bigger worry for Celtic right now though would be about Jeremie Frimpong’s fitness. The youngster has established himself as the first-choice right-back at the club and him missing any significant length of time would be a huge blow for Neil Lennon whose side are already struggling for form this season.
The manager hinted last night that the Dutchman might have suffered ligament damage as a result of the tackle, which is terrible news for the Hoops. Fortunately for them though, they have able back up in the form of Hatem Abd Elhamed who is expected to do a job in case Frimpong is out injured for the foreseeable future.