Celtic's Leigh Griffiths critical of referee Craig Thomson after Aberdeen defeat
Sunday 13 September 2015 12:31, UK
Leigh Griffiths believes Aberdeen defender Andrew Considine should have been dismissed after conceding a penalty in the Dons' 2-1 victory over Celtic at Pittodrie.
The Celtic striker felt he was denied a clear goal-scoring opportunity when pulled back in the box by Considine, who was the last defender, and although referee Craig Thomson awarded a penalty he decided on a yellow card for the offence.
Griffiths converted the spot-kick, but Aberdeen battled back with a penalty from Adam Rooney and a late winner from Paul Quinn, 13 minutes after Jonny Hayes was dismissed for a late challenge on Celtic defender Mikael Lustig.
Griffiths said: "I was going to score, there was no doubt about it. I was about to whip it around the goalie. I was three or four yards away from goal so he's got to be sent off.
"If it's up the other end I'm positive, I'd put my mortgage on it, that the referee sends one of our players off."
Asked what made him say that, he replied: "It's what happens. If it's up the other end the Aberdeen players would have surrounded him and you can guarantee he sends him off. That's 100 per cent.
"The ref just said I was going away from goal. But to me I'm going to whip it round and put it to the goalie's left-hand side.
"Look, it's one of those things. It's done with now. We've been beaten and we need to look forward.
"But he grabbed a hold of my shirt, I came back inside him and he burled me around."
Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes conceded Considine might have "got a little break" over the penalty incident but questioned other big decisions by Thomson.
McInnes said: "We got the penalty which is a right decision and we should have got another penalty with a Charlie Mulgrew handball. And I felt we were really harshly dealt with by Jonny Hayes' sending-off."
After losing all four matches against Celtic last season in finishing runners-up to Ronny Deila's side, McInnes was keen to stress that on this occasion the "better team won".
He said: "It is not a result I am surprised about. I felt confident we could get a result the same as I was confident last season and the season before when we played Celtic.
"But it was nice to get our rewards, there is no question the better team won. I am really pleased with everyone but it is only three points."
Asked about the Considine penalty, Hoops boss Deila said: "When you see it, Leigh is straight on to goal. But they had a man sent off and we had a chance to win the game or at least get one point and that is disappointing.
"I am very disappointed with the result. We had control of the game until their penalty and I thought it was a very cheap one. It is a very easy penalty.
"But after the red card, I was very disappointed that we conceded a goal so easy on a set-piece."
