Source: Team_Talk
Lennon quiet on McDonald controversy
eil Lennon refused to comment on the Dougie McDonald controversy following his side's 3-0 win over St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park on Sunday.[LNB] McDonald failed to report correctly the reasons behind his decision to rescind a penalty for Celtic in the game against Dundee United at Tannadice a fortnight ago.[LNB]There was some confusion as to why McDonald had changed his mind after initially pointing to the spot when United keeper Dusan Pernis had challenged Gary Hooper.[LNB]Scottish Football Association chief executive Stewart Regan ordered an investigation in to the incident, with Celtic writing a letter to the SFA asking for an explanation.[LNB]The SFA's head of referee development, Hugh Dallas, explained that McDonald had changed his mind after being alerted to his mistake by assistant Steven Craven.[LNB]As the furore increased, Craven reportedly became the subject of threats and verbal abuse and resigned.[LNB]The inquiry, however, discovered that McDonald had quickly realised his mistake and changed his mind, but had not made that clear in his report, which earned him a warning.[LNB]It is believed that Craven is set to add fuel to the fire by giving his side of the story to a Sunday newspaper tomorrow but after the 3-0 win over St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park, Lennon said: "I have been so engrossed in today's game, I don't know what the findings are yet so I can't make a comment until I know the full story.[LNB]"But there will possibly be a comment - it depends."[LNB]A Niall McGinn double and a strike from Emilio Izaguirre completed a comfortable afternoon's work for the visitors who had to withdraw skipper Shaun Maloney minutes before the kick-off with a stomach bug complaint.[LNB]"I am delighted with the goals, the clean sheet and the performance," said Lennon, who also dropped under-fire defender Glenn Loovens to give fit-again Thomas Rogne his first start of the season.[LNB]"It was a big win for us in the context of the week and we were very good today.[LNB]"We had a blow before the game when Shaun Maloney failed to shrug off a bug so we had to re-jig the team and put Niall on the left and bring in Cha Du-Ri on the right.[LNB]"We have competition for places and we are looking for a standard in the team.[LNB]"We conceded five goals in the previous two games so we decided to re-jig the back four.[LNB]"Izaguirre was top drawer, he is learning to adapt to the Scottish climate and Mark Wilson had a great game as well.[LNB]"Rogne, considering he has been out for so long, was superb."[LNB]McGinn claimed his team-mates got him booked by referee Calum Murray at his second-minute opener after he went behind the goal to take the acclaim of the travelling fans.[LNB]The Northern Ireland international said: "The referee didn't like me celebrating with the fans but I tried to explain that I wasn't near the fans, the players pushed me towards them.[LNB]"So the players got me the booking, definitely but you will never get a referee to overturn a yellow card.[LNB]"I think that's my first booking for Celtic but hopefully there won't be any more.[LNB]"I'm not a man to get too many bookings so thankfully it wasn't a second.[LNB]"I was just delighted to score."[LNB]Saints boss Derek McInnes failed to hide his disappointment at his side's performance.[LNB]"I didn't think we were very good at all today," he said.[LNB]"We are better than that.[LNB]"Celtic are a better team than us but I would expect us to put up more of a fight to try and keep the points here.[LNB]"I feel as if we are capable of beating any team at our best but I felt Celtic didn't have to be at their best and they deserved the win, hands down."[LNB]McInnes's disappointment was compounded by the dismissal of Danny Grainger for picking up two yellow cards.[LNB]The Saints defender, booked for dissent at Celtic's first goal, received another yellow four minutes from time for a foul on Anthony Stokes.[LNB]The Perth boss said: "It's disappointing and Danny has to learn from that.[LNB]"Not only did it affect us for this week, it affects us for next week where we will have to make a change.[LNB]"We don't have the biggest squad and we don't have a lot of defenders and midfielder so I'm disappointed."
