Brendan Rodgers slams Willie Collum for McGregor red card

Brendan Rodgers claimed referee Willie Collum was wrong to send off Callum McGregor in Celtic's 3-0 win over Hamilton at the SuperSeal stadium.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers, right, during his side's 3-0 win over Hamilton at New Douglas Park. Picture: Craig Williamson/SNS

Two minutes into the second half with the Hoops leading through a Leigh Griffiths strike, the Parkhead midfielder, booked in the first half for a foul on Darian MacKinnon, was shown a second yellow after a challenge on Scott McMann.

The loss of a man, however, did little to stop the visitors with Stuart Armstrong driving in a wonderful strike before substitute Moussa Dembele added a late third to keep the Parkhead side 14 points clear of Rangers at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership with their 13th successive league win.

Rodgers, though, was not happy with McGregor’s dismissal. He said: “It was never a sending off. It was a really poor decision.

“It wasn’t a tackle. He’s run to try and press the guy who’s thrown the ball, and I always ask the players to jump to the thrower. He’s jumped forward but it wasn’t a tackle. They sort of fell into each other.

“The whole reaction from the ground tells you everything. Everyone was surprised.

“It gave us something else to worry about in the game and the players came through it. It gave us a different challenge of how we can cope tactically and I thought they coped very, very well and really controlled the game.”

Rodgers had expressed his dislike of artificial surfaces and on a wet and wild day in Lanarkshire he was happy with the way his side had performed.

He said: “Despite the hurricane, the rain and the plastic pitch, I thought we produced a really professional performance,” said the Northern Irishman, who revealed a tight calf Griffiths picked up which kept him inside at the interval was “fine for Wednesday” for the Ross County clash.

“To get three goals here, in what is notoriously a very difficult place, and to play with that composure with 10 men for most of the second half tells you a lot about the players.”

Boss Martin Canning felt the wrath of the unhappy Hamilton fans at the end but called for everyone at the club to pull together.

He said: “You can understand the frustrations because we all want to be winning games.

“One thing we need to do is stick together and continue to work hard. We’re a small club at this level and the last thing we need is to become disjointed.

“We need to make sure everybody is pulling in the same direction.”

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