Brendan Rodgers: Ref Andrew Dallas got Olivier Ntcham red card wrong

Brendan Rodgers lamented 'a poor demonstration of officialdom' after his Celtic side were held to a 0-0 draw at St Mirren,

Referee Andrew Dallas sends off Celtic's Olivier Ntcham. Picture: SNS

The Parkhead manager claimed “not one” of the four officials performed well in the encounter with a Paisley side led by new manager Oran Kearney for the first time. His greatest ire was reserved for referee Andrew Dallas, who sent off Olivier Ntcham for a second bookable offence in the 38th minute.

There seemed little doubt about the caution when the midfielder lunged into Stephen McGinn deep in the corner of the St MIrren half but Rodgers thought otherwise.

“I never like to focus too much on the referees but I think for both teams I didn’t think any of the four officials were very good,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s a mark of all the attention that’s around them. But there were lots of incidents they got wrong.

“The sending off for me is not a yellow card. If you watch it again, the first one is a booking and we take that. But before the second one there is an incident when Olivier makes contact with the ball and wins the ball, but the referee gives a free-kick against us. Then when you see it in the corner Olivier is running across to block the ball up the line and the St Mirren player is falling over as he plays it.”

St Mirren counterpart Kearney said: “It is a massive point, one we wanted and one we are delighted to have.“We wanted a performance first and foremost and the manner the players have gone about their business, I am delighted with and that was the key.”