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News
‘It doesn’t matter’… BBC commentator takes issue with Pat Bonner’s surprising take on Celtic penalty award
It seems that all the talk today is regarding Celtic’s penalty awards after both converted spot kicks earned Brendan Rodgers his first-ever win at Easter Road.
The Celtic manager was absolutely delighted with the win and the three points now restores some daylight between the Hoops and Rangers at the top of the league.
However, it seems that the penalties are causing a huge debate and with Nick Montgomery making his feelings perfectly clear on them, Pat Bonner made a surprising conclusion on the decision to award Celtic’s first spot kick.
The former Celtic hero was co-commentating on last night’s game when he said he wasn’t 100% sure the decision to award the penalty for the Alistair Johnston challenge was correct.
Bonner said [], “I’m not 100% sure on that. It’s an interesting one, If I was the goalkeeper and the centre-half was going for it, I would want him to go for it. You can’t pull out of it.
“And Alistair Johnston has gone underneath him and sort of almost got to the ball first. You can’t pull back in that instance.
“That’s what I would see from that perspective. It’s different if he had his elbow up or he caught him in the face. But when two heads clash, somebody’s got to get to the ball first.
“My question is was there intent there?”
It was a view not shared by his colleague when the commentator took issue with the former Celtic hero’s assertion that the penalty shouldn’t have been awarded.
The match commentator said, “It doesn’t matter. If someone accidentally catches you with a foot in the penalty area, it’s still a penalty.
“So, the fact that it’s his head, that’s caught him accidentally, it doesn’t make any difference does it?”
And the commentator was spot on. Look, I kind of get where Bonner was coming from. At first glance, I didn’t think it was a penalty but Bonner, like me, had the benefit of watching a replay and when I saw it again, I was convinced the award was correct.
The Hibs defender was reckless and clumsy and wasn’t even aware of where Johnston was when the challenge was made.
For me, it was 100% a penalty. And the BBC commentator is correct, it makes no difference whether the contact was head, foot or otherwise. A foul is a foul regardless of where it was on the pitch.
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