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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Ewan Paton

Luis Palma Celtic goal explained amid Derek McInnes offside claim

Luis Palma's second goal in a week for Celtic helped Brendan Rodgers' men on their way to a comfortable victory over Kilmarnock yesterday afternoon.

The Honduran netted with a lovely finish from distance as the Hoops stormed into a 2-0 first-half lead over Killie.

Derek McInnes' side would put up a much better fight after the break, creating some good moments, putting pressure on the Celtic defence and even scoring through talented teenage David Watson. 

The score would eventually finish 3-1 after Greg Taylor put the game to bed a short while after Killie got back into the match. 

But post-match, both McInnes and the Killie faithful were unhappy with Celtic's second. In the build-up to the goal, Reo Hatate was clearly standing in an offside position as the ball played off of the Japanese midfielder before eventually landing back at Palma's feet to score.

However, speaking on BBC Sportscene, James McFadden has moved to explain why the goal counted. 

The former Motherwell and Scotland talisman reasoned that Stuart Findlay kicks the ball and therefore, on this technicality, Hatate is deemed to be onside by the officials. There was an offside check by David Dickinson on VAR, but he didn't intervene and the on-field decision was backed up.

Faddy feels the ruling was harsh on Findlay though, as he was not in control of the ball in the situation.

He explained: “The goal was given, or the offside wasn’t looked at because when this ball is played inside, the ball is for Maeda and it hits Hatate, who is in an offside position but when Stuart Findlay goes back in, the referee and VAR deem it to be a deliberate action and this is the rules now. If the player is offside and not making a challenge for the ball they’re not active.

"When Stuart Findlay goes to clear it, VAR deem it that he’s in control of the situation whether it rebounds off someone else. I think it’s harsh. I don’t know how much control he is in.

"He’s trying to get into an area, he spots Hatate and Maeda outside him and he just gets whatever he can on it. I don’t know how much control he has at that point so I feel it’s harsh.”

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