Dundee United midfielder Scott Robertson believes noise, or rather the lack of it, played a huge part in the Tangerines being denied a penalty at Parkhead on Saturday.
With the visitors battling back and troubling the Hoops, who were leading 2-1, he tumbled in the Celtic box after a clumsy challenge by defender Kelvin Wilson.
For a second it seemed referee Craig Thomson would point to the spot and hand the visitors a golden chance to level, but he waved play on.
To pile on the misery, the hosts then raced up the park to score through Ki Sung-Yueng. Robertson was in no doubt he should have had a spotkick and explained why he felt it would have been awarded had the roles been reversed.
He said, “If it was at the other end and there were 50,000 fans shouting for it, it may well have been given. The 400 or 500 of our fans couldn’t make that kind of noise. I certainly thought it was a penalty.”
He added, “They then went straight up the park and scored the third goal. So it could have made all the difference.”Tangerines ‘adventurous’Robertson said, “We were in the game at 2-1 and it took a lot for them to get to three.
“We were creating chances and getting boys forward into their box and if it wasn’t for Lukasz Zaluska we probably would have got a goal back.”
Significantly, for a match that finished as a comfortable victory for the Celts, the man-of-the-match award was given to goalkeeper Zaluska.
The former United man produced a string of excellent saves as Johnny Russell, Jon Daly and Garry Kenneth all went close, with United carving open the Celtic defence more often than most will manage this season.
Robertson said, “Lukasz had plenty to do and that (man-of-the-match award) does tell a wee bit of a story.
“He did things like that for us plenty of times, although there were a couple of mistakes in the first half that we didn’t capitalise on.
“Had we done so then that would have maybe defended a bit better and not had to be as adventurous as we were.”
He added, “We take nothing from the game, though. When you go to Celtic Park most people don’t expect you to get anything anyway but it’s still disappointing.
“We just have to look forward to next week when we have Dunfermline at home. That will be a totally different game.”Houstie disappointedCeltic opened the scoring after just four minutes when United keeper Dusan Pernis made a hash of dealing with Kris Commons’ shot.
He conceded a corner that was fired in by Ki, nodded down by Daniel Majstorovic then tapped in by Anthony Stokes.
The Tangerines almost pulled level when Russell raced clear and slipped the ball past Zaluska, only for Wilson to clear.
Russell did find the target on 31 minutes, however, with Kenneth playing a lofted pass from John Rankin back across the box to the striker, who nonchalantly stroked it home.
United’s attacking threat was blended with defensive vulnerability, though, and they conceded a second just two minutes later, with Gary Hooper reacting more quickly than any defender to nod into the net after a Stokes header had struck the bar.
United continued to produce some good stuff in possession, with young Scott Allan again looking good before coming off with cramp late in the game.
But after Robertson was denied his penalty, Ki made it 3-1 on the counter-attack, Joe Ledley added another after a Shaun Maloney cutback then sub James Forrest wrapped things up in stoppage time.
United boss Peter Houston was understandably unhappy with his side’s defending, particularly as the dam burst in the closing stages.
He said, “The goals we lost were very disappointing. The first one was a bread and butter save but our keeper fumbled it and they get a corner and score from it.”
Hoops manager Neil Lennon was rather happier, saying, “It was a fantastic result. Five different scorers, different goals as well and we could have had more.”