Tuesday 21 April 2015 10:41, UK
John Hartson says the decision not to award Celtic a penalty in Sunday's Scottish Cup semi-final was down solely to an error by the officials and not any anti-Celtic bias.
The Scottish champions have written to the SFA asking the governing body to clarify what referee Steven McLean and his assistants saw when they decided not to give a spot-kick to the Hoops after Inverness defender Josh Meekings handled a goal-bound Leigh Griffiths header on the line.
If the referee misses it and the assistant referees miss it then there is not an awful lot you can do about it. It happens.
In a statement released on Monday, Celtic said: "Given the level of reaction from supporters and across football we are duty bound to seek an understanding of what actually happened.
"We have not been given any other specific explanation so far and this is simply to understand the circumstances of what went on and why such an obvious mistake was made."
'It happens'
Celtic, who were leading the tie 1-0 at the time of the incident, eventually lost 3-2 after extra time to Inverness who will now face Falkirk in the final back at Hampden on Saturday, May 30.
Speaking to Sky Sports News HQ from his John Hartson Golf Foundation Day at Mar Hall Golf Club in Bishopton, Renfrewshire, the former Celtic and Arsenal striker said: "We've seen it so many times, big decisions do go against teams.
"If the referee misses it and the assistant referees miss it then there is not an awful lot you can do about it. It happens.
"We saw it with Thierry Henry's handball a few years ago that cost the Republic of Ireland a World Cup place. There is not much you can do unless you are going to call the referee and the assistant referees and linesmen dishonest.
"That is a big word to use really but I don't think there is any conspiracies involved but, as I said, it happens.
"The referee missed it, the linesmen missed it and it's very unfortunate for Celtic. It was a massive moment in the game and it should have been a penalty," added the Welshman who scored 104 goals in 171 games for the Hoops between 2001-2006.
