Honest Mistakes 2025/26 - To 30th November, 2025

The major calls reviewed up to the games completed on 30th November 2025.

The games are coming thick and fast.

Here, the Yorkshire Whistler assesses the big calls from matches up to 30^th November.

22/11/25 St Mirren vs Celtic

Incident 1

Referee: Kevin Clancy

Game Minute: 69^th

Score At Time: 0-0

Incident: Scales puts the ball into his own net

Outcome: Goal disallowed for offside

Evidence: St. Mirren 0-1 Celtic | HIGHLIGHTS | William Hill Premiership

At 1:51

Yorkshire Whistler Verdict:

Scales puts ball in own net

IOD: Goal disallowed for offside

Goalkeeper hits a long ball into the box and Scales attempts to clear ball under pressure for two players, one off whom is stood offside as the ball is flicked on.

In Scales defence, he sees the St Mirren attacker in his line of sight. He is in close enough proximity to influence Scales attempt to stretch and play the ball. This movement towards the ball from the attacker means he is active, has made an obvious action on the ball and this is correctly adjudged as offside.

Verdict: CORRECT decision

Expected Points Outcome: No impact

Incident 2

Referee: Kevin Clancy

Game Minute: 76^th

Score At Time: 0-0

Incident: Maeda is brought down by Gogic

Outcome: Free kick to Celtic, YC to Gogic

Evidence: Provided

Yorkshire Whistler Verdict:

Maeda brought down by Gigic

IOD: Free kick to Celtic and caution for Gogic

Maeda looks to be the favourite to latch onto a though ball and Gogic caught on wrong side of his man appears to drag the Celtic down and a clear foul is committed.

Two considerations here. Was it a penalty instead of a free kick and should it have been a sending off for a DOGSO offence.

In terms of where offence is committed, the contact is initiated outside the box and the players land inside the penalty area. It is a close call but I feel the contact stops just before the players start to fall down in the area and so support the call of a free kick rather than a penalty.

In terms of the sanction for the foul, this is very close to meeting the threshold for a sending off offence for denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity given the proximity to the goal.

The one thing that helps Gogic avoid the sending off is that the trajectory of the ball is sending Maeda wide and slightly away from goal, so his next touch was unlikely to be a shot at goal. Hence it is correctly interpreted as simply stopping a promising attack rather than a DOGSO.

Verdict: CORRECT decision

Expected Points Outcome: No impact

22/11/25 The Rangers vs Livingston

Incident 1

Referee: Ross Hardie

Game Minute: 18^th

Score At Time: 1-0

Incident: Yengi scores for Livingston

Outcome: Goal to Livingston

Evidence: Rangers 2-1 Livingston | HIGHLIGHTS | William Hill Premiership

At 1:16

Yorkshire Whistler Verdict:

Yengi scores for Livingston

IOD: Goal to Livingston

Yengi latches onto a long ball from counter attack and scores. As the ball is placed over there is a question of being offside, but from the footage provided it appears the player is just onside.

Also at the start of the passage of play the Rangers wide man goes down under a challenge looking for a foul which in my opinion looks a fair challenge.

Verdict: CORRECT decision.

Expected Points Outcome: No impact

Incident 2

Referee: Ross Hardie

Game Minute: 23^rd

Score At Time: 1-1

Incident: Yengi shot is blocked by Fernandez

Outcome: No decision

Evidence: Rangers 2-1 Livingston | HIGHLIGHTS | William Hill Premiership

At 2:20

Yorkshire Whistler Verdict:

Yengi shot blocked by Fernandez

IOD: No decision

Yengi hits a shot around the penalty area that the Rangers defender blocks at close proximity. The ball appears to hit Fernandez’s left hand but given how close he is to the shot and that the arm is close to his body, this is correctly adjudged as accidental handball and body shape is considered natural for this incident.

Verdict: CORRECT decision.

Expected Points Outcome: No impact

30/11/25 Hibernian vs Celtic

Incident 1

Referee: Nick Walsh

Game Minute: 16^th

Score At Time: 0-0

Incident: Donovan fouls Obita

Outcome: Foul to Hibs, YC to Donovan

Evidence: Provided

Yorkshire Whistler Verdict:

Donovan fouls Obita

IOD: Foul to Hibs and caution to Donovan

Donovan lunges into a challenge and clearly catches the Hibs man with a late tackle which is at the very least a yellow card, reckless in nature tackle. There is a possibility that this should have been deemed a red card offence given the Celtic player momentarily fully leaves the ground as he makes the challenge. However the contact appears to be relatively minimal at the point of impact. As such, in my opinion, just stays below the threshold of being deemed a tackle with excessive force/brutality that endangers players safety. What I’d call an old fashioned ‘orange card’ kind of challenge.

Verdict: CORRECT decision.

Expected Points Outcome: No impact

Incident 2

Referee: Nick Walsh

Game Minute: 28^th

Score At Time: 0-1

Incident: Engels scores for Celtic

Outcome: Goal to Celtic, YC to McGrath

Evidence: Sportscene: Premiership Highlights - 2025/26: Hibernian v Celtic - highlights - BBC iPlayer

At 0:37

Yorkshire Whistler Verdict:

Engels scores for Celtic

IOD: Goal to Celtic, McGrath cautioned

As Engels heads the ball home after getting on the end of cross, McGrath caught just behind his man, raises his foot in attempt to play the ball and it appears Engels head catches his shin. Engels is slightly stooping down at the same time as McGrath raises his foot. His leg is bent and I don’t feel this is more than a reckless challenge that is correctly penalised with a caution to the offending player.

Verdict: CORRECT decision.

Expected Points Outcome: No impact

Incident 3

Referee: Nick Walsh

Game Minute: 52^nd

Score At Time: 0-2

Incident: Ball hits Scales in the box

Outcome: Penalty to Hibs for handball

Evidence: Sportscene: Premiership Highlights - 2025/26: Hibernian v Celtic - highlights - BBC iPlayer

At 1:10

Yorkshire Whistler Verdict:

Ball hits Scales in the box

IOD: Penalty to Hibs and Scales cautioned

As a cross comes in, the Hibs player flicks the ball with his head and Scales at close proximity sees the ball hit his arm. I suspect this is accidental and Scales has very little reaction time. Unfortunately for him, he does seem to move his arm towards the ball and this makes his body shape unnaturally larger which in this context can’t been justified. A tad harsh, but I can see why the penalty was given upon review.

Verdict : CORRECT decision.

Expected Points Outcome: No impact

Incident 4

Referee: Nick Walsh

Game Minute: 69^th

Score At Time: 1-2

Incident: Yang and Bushiri challenge for a high ball in the box

Outcome: No decision

Evidence: Provided

Yorkshire Whistler Verdict:

Yang and Bushiri go for a header in the box

IOD: No decision

Brave play by both players here as they don’t hesitate to put their head in where it hurts. The ball bounces in the Hibs penalty area and both players feel they can win the ball. There is a clear clash of heads here but given they both appear to make contact with the ball at the same time (maybe Yang gets there fractionally quicker) I don’t believe this should have been adjudged a foul against Hibs. A fair but painful challenge by both players.

Verdict: CORRECT decision.

Expected Points Outcome: No impact

Summary

My thanks, as always, to the Yorkshire Whistler.

Whether you like it or not, and many won’t, as the years roll on, I am becoming familiar with some of his consistencies in some of these scenarios. Which is all we ask for.

The Rangers have been estimated to have been hampered by 1.45 expected points thus far.

Celtic leads The Rangers by seven points after 13 games.