Sky Sports referee expert Dermot Gallagher has cleared stand-in referee Chris Fordyce of any wrongdoing after Motherwell's failed penalty claim against Celtic.
Hoops left-back Boli Bolingoli appeared to handle the ball inside the box during the Steelmen's 2-0 defeat on Saturday.
Graham Alexander's side slipped to sixth in the Premiership after goals from Jota and Motherwell academy graduate David Turnbull sealed a Celtic win at Fir Park.
Bolingoli's incident has dominated headlines, and while the Belgian did handle the ball, ex-Premier League referee Gallagher says Fordyce - who replaced injured ref Willie Collum midway through the first half - was not in a position to give it.
"It's handball by Bolingoli but in fairness to the referee, Van Veen completely obscures the referee's view," he said.
"He's behind Van Veen and he doesn't see it - so he can't give it."
'Well boss Alexander was far from happy with the call: "I've only been up here nine months, I'm still learning but learning quickly that it's easy to give a penalty against us but very, very difficult to give a penalty to us.
“From my relatively new experience here that's what I've seen with my own eyes."
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