Scottish ref warned after probe into penalty row

Scottish referee Dougie McDonald has been warned following an investigation into the penalty controversy that marred Celtic’s recent match at Dundee United.

Stewart Regan, the Scottish Football Association’s (SFA) chief executive, launched the probe after McDonald rescinded a spot-kick award to Celtic, who eventually won the game 2-1.

The SFA’s referees committee concluded the investigation on Friday and unanimously decided that McDonald was correct to order a drop-ball after initially pointing to the spot following United goalkeeper Dusan Pernis’s challenge on Gary Hooper.

However, the match observer marked down McDonald for his initial mistake in awarding the penalty and the findings of the SFA inquiry ruled that the “post-match administrative process” was unsatisfactory.

Celtic had written to the SFA demanding clarification over the incident, but Regan denied that the correspondence had prompted his investigation.

“He has been give a warning by the referees committee for not articulating the findings at the end of the match and he has accepted that,” Regan said.

“Referees are measured by performance. The minute Dougie McDonald overturned a penalty decision, that would have had an impact on how he was judged.

“The score he received was a 7.9. Anything beneath an eight is judged not to be a satisfactory score, so he was marked down below standard.”

Assistant referee Steven Craven, who was consulted by McDonald before the referee reversed the decision, quit the game amid the furore over the incident after being cast as the instigator of the u-turn.