SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE ROUND-UP: THE HIGH level of scrutiny afforded to match officials in the Scottish Premier League has intensified further, after Rangers were denied a late victory at Aberdeen by a controversial offside call.
After penalty drama involving Celtic in successive games and dubious decisions in the match between Rangers and Hearts the previous Saturday, SPL clubs had attended a meeting with referees in midweek in an attempt to scale down rising frustrations.
Yet officialdom returned to the spotlight at Pittodrie as the assistant referee Billy Baxter raised his flag against either Kris Boyd or DaMarcus Beasley in the dying stages before the latter fired home an angled shot.
Baxter's only possibly explanation - and it would be a tenuous one - is that Boyd was interfering with play from a Pedro Mendes cross; Beasley was a yard onside.
"It [the goal] should have stood and it has cost us two points," said a frustrated Rangers manager Walter Smith afterwards. "In the last couple of weeks all we have heard is that the Old Firm get every decision going. Well, today shows that isn't the case, it never has been. I just hope referees and officials are not bowing to the pressure."
Rangers have won only once in their last six visits to the north-east, with David Weir and Derek Young trading first-half goals in a game the visitors should have sealed before the interval.
Such machinations matter little to Celtic, who defeated Falkirk 3-0. Stephen McManus opened the scoring before a Georgios Samaras double; Gordon Strachan's only concern in advance of Sunday's first Glasgow derby of the season related to injuries to Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Scott McDonald.
But to prove that men in black were not spared at Parkhead either, the Falkirk striker Michael Higdon launched an incredulous attack on the referee, Iain Brines.
Falkirk felt McManus handled at the time of his goal and Higdon said: "It was a clear handball but the referee did not give it. He is obviously a Celtic fan. I was so angry I could have knocked the referee out. Let's have a look at him and his refereeing."
• Guardian Service
