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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Mark Pirie

3 Steven McLean calls in Celtic vs Hibs slammed as furious Ben Kensell defended despite 'soft' penalty caveat

Former Hibs striker Tam McManus has backed up Easter Road chief executive Ben Kensell after he reportedly "confronted" SFA officials after the clash with Celtic.

Referee Steven McLean and VAR was at the forefront of the talking points coming out of Celtic Park as Ange Postecoglou's league leaders ran out 3-1 winners in the end. Lee Johnson's side went down to 10 men after just 24 minutes after Elie Youan was shown two yellow cards by McLean, before the visitors took the lead through Josh Campbell from the penalty spot.

The man in the middle initially missed a pull from Carl Starfelt in the box on Paul Hanlon, before VAR Gavin Duncan sent McLean to the monitor and the spot kick was awarded following a review. Hanlon would then be penalised for a pull on Cameron Carter-Vickers in the box, which allowed Jota to step up and level the game in Glasgow's east end.

McLean would award a third penalty of the game when Liel Abada went down under pressure, with David Marshall being judged to have tripped the winger as he burst through on goal. However, the VAR room would again decide to send McLean to the monitor and the decision was overturned.

Former Hibs hero McManus was left bemused by the officiating as he claimed the referee only got one of the big calls right from the Premiership clash - when he penalised Hanlon for a foul on Carter-Vickers. However, he insisted the contract was "soft" with the Celtic defender.

Asked about reported claims from Kensell that whistler McLean got all the big decisions wrong, McManus told the PLZ Football Show: "Well, let's go through them then. I think the red card was not a red card, I think he has got that one wrong.

"I thought Starfelt was a penalty, I thought that he pulled Paul Hanlon. I thought the penalty for Celtic was soft.

'I thought Carter-Vickers went down easy. And the one where Abada goes down...I had probably had about 9 Corona by then and I was 250 yards away (in hospitality).

"I could see he had tripped over his own feet, and so could every Celtic fan around me. They were laughing saying 'that's never a penalty' and he pointed to the spot straight away, and I don't know why.

"David Marshall got booked as well and he wasn't even near him, so he got that wrong. I think he got one right - and that was the penalty for Celtic - but he got every other big decision wrong."

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