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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Josh McCafferty

'Perfect choice': Celtic vs Rangers referee given Sky Sports Ref Watch treatment

Steven McLean has been praised for his refereeing performance in yesterday's match between Celtic and Rangers. 

The whistler wasn't caught up in any real moments of contention as Barry Ferguson's men walked away from Parkhead with a 3-2 victory. 

Nicolas Raskin opened the scoring early doors before Mohamed Diomande soon made it 2-0. 

Celtic got back into the game in the second 45, however, as Japanese duo Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate levelled things up. 


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Hamza Igamane then struck late on to win it for Rangers and spark jubilant scenes in the away end. 

The enthralling match didn't consist of any major controversial refereeing decisions, and on Sky Sports' Ref Watch show, ex-Premier League whistler Dermot Gallagher was full of praise for McLean. 

He said (via Record): "This game is very, very diffcult to referee.

"Steven McLean, I think, was the perfect choice for this. I thought he refereed it superbly and let it flow. It was a very physical contact game, and nobody overstepped the line.

"They accepted what he wanted to do and he accepted what the players wanted to do. I think it made it a better spectacle."

Clashes between Celtic and Rangers are often marred by officiating controversies, although McLean wasn't caught up in any major wrong calls on Sunday. 

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