Honest Mistakes 25/26 - Week Five
And suddenly it was all dark and messy.............
As the table starts to take shape, with a Bloomin’ threat loomin’, so the incidents accelerate. Another crazy week in the crazy world of Scottish fitba’.
Thankfully, the Yorkshire Whistler maintains calm, rational detachment.
13/09/25 The Rangers vs Heart of Midlothian
Incident 1
Referee: Steven McLean
Game Minute: 21st
Score At Time: 0-0
Incident: Shankland scores for Hearts
Outcome: Goal to Hearts
Evidence: Sportscene: Premiership Highlights - 2025/26: 13/09/2025 - BBC iPlayer
At 2:45
Yorkshire Whistler Verdict:
Shankland scores for Hearts
IOD: Goal awarded
In the build up to this goal a Hearts midfielder appears to handle the ball and upon closer inspection I feel Hearts were lucky to see this goal stand. The player in question clearly leans forward and in doing so gains control of the ball with his left arm, below the ‘t-shirt’ line and is able to launch a counter attack after this contact. Rangers should have been awarded a free kick.
Verdict: INCORRECT decision. Rangers free kick was the expected outcome.
Expected Points Outcome: TRFC -0.6 xPts
Incident 2
Referee: Steven McLean
Game Minute: 67th
Score At Time: 0-1
Incident: Cornelius scores for TRFC
Outcome: Goal disallowed for foul by Aasgaard on the goalkeeper
Evidence: Sportscene: Premiership Highlights - 2025/26: 13/09/2025 - BBC iPlayer
At 7:19
Yorkshire Whistler Verdict:
IOD: Goal disallowed due to a foul committed by Aasgaard on the goalkeeper
Corner comes in and, as expected from this kind of situation, the 6 yard box is congested. Aasgard is in close proximity as he jumps up with the Hearts keeper who fails to make contact on the ball. The Rangers is adjudged to have impeded the goalkeeper
Upon closer scrutiny, we do see the Rangers man momentarily glance to see where the keeper is, but in my opinion does not make any obvious movement to impede the keeper. If anything the keeper uses his left arm to push Aasgaard away to make space for the jump but in doing so, is now slightly off balance which contributes to him misjudging the flight of the ball. I do not feel the keeper was fouled here.
Verdict: INCORRECT decision. Goal to Rangers the expected outcome.
Expected Points Outcome: TRFC -0.85 xPts
Incident 3
Referee: Steven McLean
Game Minute: 80th
Score At Time: 0-1
Incident: Milne goes over in the TRFC box
Outcome: Penalty to Hearts
Evidence: Sportscene: Premiership Highlights - 2025/26: 13/09/2025 - BBC iPlayer
At 8:09
Yorkshire Whistler Verdict:
Milne goes down in the box
IOD: Penalty awarded to Hearts
Milne bursts into the box and Diomande stretches with his right foot across his body to make a block tackle. Milne appears to go down under minimal contact and my initial thought was that no foul had been committed. However on replay, there does appear to be a slight touch on Milnes left foot and as he is running at speed, this could be enough to knock him off balance. If no penalty had been awarded I would not have been surprised, but once the penalty is awarded, it is not a clear error and so I would on balance, support this decision just.
Verdict: CORRECT decision .
Expected Points Outcome: No impact
14/09/25 Kilmarnock vs Celtic
Incident 1
Referee: John Beaton
Game Minute: 5th
Score At Time: 0-0
Incident: Ball hits Stanger in the box
Outcome: No decision
Evidence: Sportscene: Premiership Highlights - 2025/26: 14/09/2025 - BBC iPlayer
At 3:20
Yorkshire Whistler Verdict:
Ball hits Stanger in the box
IOD: No decision
As a cross is made. Stanger goes to close ball down from close distance and the ball appears to hit his left arm accidentally.
For me there is very little reaction time due to the proximity and I don’t feel the arm is extended out unnaturally for that specific situation.
Verdict: CORRECT decision.
Expected Points Outcome: No impact
Incident 2
Referee: John Beaton
Game Minute: 69th
Score At Time: 0-1
Incident: Ball hits Deas in the box
Outcome: No decision
Evidence: Sportscene: Premiership Highlights - 2025/26: 14/09/2025 - BBC iPlayer
At 10:18
Yorkshire Whistler Verdict:
Ball hits Deas in the box
IOD: No decision
As another Celtic low cross is fired into the box, the ball appears to hit the goalkeeper before deflecting up into the slightly outstretched arm of a defender. Similar to the previous incident, due to the very close proximity from when the balls trajectory changes after the keepers initial save, there is virtually no time to react. Even though the arm is out slightly, again I don’t believe it meets the threshold for extended and unnaturally large specific for that situation.
Verdict: CORRECT decision.
Expected Points Outcome: No impact
Incident 3
Referee: John Beaton
Game Minute: 89th
Score At Time: 1-1
Incident: Carter-Vickers and Deas challenge for the ball in the Celtic box
Outcome: No decision
Evidence: Sportscene: Premiership Highlights - 2025/26: 14/09/2025 - BBC iPlayer
At 15:49
Yorkshire Whistler Verdict:
Carter-Vickers and Deas challenge for the ball inside the Celtic box
IOD: No decision
A bit of the mutual grappling and jostling from two strong defenders at a set piece but I don’t see anything here that constitutes a clear and impactful holding/pulling offence committed.
Verdict: CORRECT decision.
Expected Points Outcome: No impact
Incident 4
Referee: John Beaton
Game Minute: 90th
Score At Time: 1-1
Incident: Mayo blocks Forrest shot
Outcome: Penalty to Celtic for handball
Evidence: Sportscene: Premiership Highlights - 2025/26: 14/09/2025 - BBC iPlayer
At 16:34
Yorkshire Whistler Verdict:
Mayo blocks Forrest shot
IOD: Penalty for handball following VAR review
Again, another contentious decision I suspect, after the ball ricochets onto the arm of a Kilmarnock defender. In real time, it seems a harsh decision as it hits the defender after a close-range deflection off his teammate. However, on replay, from the initial shot, the offending player has turned his body to block the first shot and in doing so, extends his left arm out and slightly outwards. Once this is spotted by the VAR team I can see why they have recommended the on-field review. Another of those subjective calls that you could argue for either way, but not a decision that was clearly incorrect,
Verdict: CORRECT decision.
Expected Points Outcome: No impact
Summary
My thanks, as always, to the Yorkshire Whistler.
Quite the explosion this week, but despite the media howling, credit to John Beaton and team for getting the big calls right at Rugby Park. The handball law is really tricky, and forever adding to its complexity isn’t helping.
I’m sure commenters can add when the last time The Rangers were on the wrong side of two big calls at Ibrox, or indeed anywhere. As has been said repeatedly, refereeing standards are not necessarily improving, but at a minimum, all we expect is for the negative impacts of that to be felt equally across all teams.
The Rangers have been estimated to have been hampered by 1.45 expected points thus far.
Celtic leads by nine points after five games.
I could almost believe the refs are trying to get him sacked
Tony Bloom clearly has the refs in his back pocket!