Honest Mistakes 2025/26 - To Week 33
Celtic travelled to Dundee and The Rangers to Falkirk where there were plenty of big calls.
The Yorkshire Whistler brings us up to date to the end of week 33 in the SPFL with the big calls and his verdicts.
This week coverage includes Celtic’s visit to Dundee and The Rangers’ trip to Falkirk.
05/04/26 Dundee vs Celtic
Incident 1
Referee: Steven McLean
Game Minute: 9th
Score At Time: 0-0
Incident: Yang scores for Celtic
Outcome: Goal to Celtic
Evidence:
At 0:00
Yorkshire Whistler Verdict:
Yang scores for Celtic
IOD: Goal awarded
Yang reacts quickest to a parry from the Dundee keeper and prods home from close range. There is a question of a possible offside in the buildup, as initially the Celtic player looks slightly in front of his nearest marker as the cross comes in. However, the Dundee right back, almost out of shot is slightly deeper as the ball is played and is correctly adjudged to have therefore played the Celtic player onside.
Verdict: CORRECT decision.
Expected Points Outcome: No impact
Incident 2
Referee: Steven McLean
Game Minute: 57th
Score At Time: 0-1
Incident: Ball hits Donovan in the box
Outcome: Penalty to Dundee
Evidence:
At 2:11
Yorkshire Whistler Verdict:
Ball hits Donovan in the box
IOD: Penalty to Dundee for a handball offence
As a shot is drilled at goal inside the box, at close range it hits the outstretched arm of Donovan. Whilst I do have sympathy for the Celtic player here, due to it being accidental and he had virtually no reaction time at all from when the shot is hit, his arm is quite extended outwards. The shot appears to be on target from close range and, if not for hitting Donovan’s arm, looks very likely to a goal bound effort. In this context, correct to penalise the accidental handball offence.
Verdict: CORRECT decision.
Expected Points Outcome: No impact
Incident 3
Referee: Steven McLean
Game Minute: 82nd
Score At Time: 1-1
Incident: Iheanacho scores for Celtic
Outcome: Goal to Celtic
Evidence:
At 4:12
Yorkshire Whistler Verdict:
Iheanacho scores for Celtic
IOD: Goal awarded to Celtic
A Celtic cross is swung into the Dundee box from the left flank and there is some mutual contact between Iheanacho and his marker. The Dundee man claims he is pushed in the back, but I’m not so sure. Expected contact between the two players but not a clear push or infringement. The defender needs to show better upper body strength for me. No foul.
Verdict: CORRECT decision.
Expected Points Outcome: No impact
Incident 4
Referee: Steven McLean
Game Minute: 86th
Score At Time: 1-2
Incident: Astley challenges Yang
Outcome: Foul to Celtic; RC to Astley
Evidence:
At 4:56
Yorkshire Whistler Verdict:
Astley challenges Yang
IOD: Foul to Celtic and red card to Astley
Yang attempts to latch onto a long through ball and plays the ball forward just before his marker, who only succeeds in pushing the Celtic man over from behind. A clear foul and the referee feel this meets the criteria for denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity.
Dundee claim the left back was covering and so Astley wasn’t the last man but I’m not convinced. Yangs touch looked to have seen him break through centrally whereas the covering player was too wide to have got to the ball first, in my opinion.
A tight call, but one that I would support on balance.
Verdict: CORRECT decision.
Expected Points Outcome: No impact
12/04/26 Falkirk vs The Rangers
Incident 1
Referee: Don Robertson
Game Minute: 31st
Score At Time: 2-0
Incident: Meghoma challenges Miller
Outcome: Foul to Falkirk, YC to Meghoma
Evidence:
At 0:50
Yorkshire Whistler Verdict:
Meghoma fouls Milller
IOD: Foul to Falkirk and Meghoma cautioned
Meghoma gets caught in possession and brings down the opponent that robbed him of the ball. It appears when committing this foul that the Rangers man is ‘the last man’ and so there is the consideration of whether this was a sending off offence.
To clarify being the ‘last man’ is not a sending off offence and it is actually the DOGSO (denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity) that is the punishable offence.
When considering whether a DOGSO has occurred rather than a cautionable SPA (stopping a promising attack) 4 criteria must be considered:
1. Distance to goal - How far from goal did the offence occur?
2. Direction of play - Was the attacker moving toward goal?
3. Likelihood of keeping possession - Could the attacker control the ball?
4. Location and number of defenders - Were other defenders able to recover?
So, in this situation, given the foul occurred well inside Falkirk’s own half and there was also a Rangers defender stood wider and on the half way line, this offence didn’t meet all the required criteria.
Verdict: CORRECT decision to caution for the foul.
Expected Points Outcome: No impact
Incident 2
Referee: Don Robertson
Game Minute: 70th
Score At Time: 2-4
Incident: Tavernier challenges Lissah
Outcome: Penalty to Falkirk
Evidence:
At 3:54
Yorkshire Whistler Verdict:
Tavernier challenges Lissah in the box
IOD: Penalty to Falkirk and Tavernier cautioned
As Lissah breaks into the box, he gets goal side of Tavernier and we see the Rangers man give Lissah a little pull back, enough to impact the attacker’s momentum and a penalty is awarded.
Again, like the previous scenario, as Lissahs next touch sees him taking the ball out wide, rather than goalwards, this is correctly interpreted as a SPA rather than DOGSO and so the player is only cautioned.
Verdict: CORRECT decision.
Expected Points Outcome: No impact
Summary
My thanks, as always, to the Yorkshire Whistler.
We can only hope that the remaining five crucial rounds of matches pass off without incident in the refereeing front.
The Rangers have been hampered by incorrect calls to the tune of -1.73 expected points, and Celtic -0.04 xPts.
After 33 matches, The Rangers lead Celtic by two points.
As a final aside, this is the sort of pattern I expected to see when I started this five years ago - i.e. small margins impacting either side.
I did not expect to see the statistically significant gaps in outcome and impact we experienced under Crawford Allan’s management.
This might be why the calls in certain quarters for change are so vociferous and coordinated. Standards remain poor under Willie Collum, but at least seem to impact all teams broadly equally. It is that latter point which exercises some, rather than the overall standards, I suspect.
I always have a cynical view when ever the rangers are at the forefront of any campaign so fully agree with the sentiment that the fair distribution of shit refereeing is the issue rather than the shit refereeing itself.