By the time John Beaton jogged over to the monitor, every Celtic fan in the ground and on the sofa knew what was coming. Daizen Maeda’s header had thumped into Dujon Sterling’s arm. The only question was how long the drama would last.
On Celtic TV, Gerry McCulloch tried to keep it together. “The referee’s having a look with Stevie McLean, I think on VAR.” Calm enough. For about three seconds.
Peter Grant was honest at first. “It’s his left arm, isn’t it? I never saw that, to be fair.” Then the replay hit the screen. “Oh yes, yeah, that’s a penalty kick.” The tone flipped instantly. No grey area. No debate.
McCulloch wasn’t hanging about either. “It’s redirecting. Oh, it’s a penalty kick into Jack Butland off the arm of Sterling. So that should be a penalty to Celtic in the 88th minute. Come on, John Beaton, you know what you want to do.”
Gerry McCulloch roasts John Beaton’s penalty VAR check at Ibrox 🎥
Celtic fans know exactly why 😉 pic.twitter.com/E0lNS8kZHg
— Born (C)eltic (@born_celtic) March 2, 2026
Grant doubled down. “He actually directs it onto Jack Butland’s face.” McCulloch followed with, “Yeah, he does, directs it right onto his coupon.” At that point it felt less like analysis and more like two pals in the pub arguing over a replay.
The longer it went on, the funnier it became. “How many times you need to see it? It’s fact, the ball goes into the net,” Grant insisted. Then McCulloch delivered the killer line: “They’re trying to find an angle where it doesn’t happen.” Grant simply replied, “Yeah.”
From a Celtic fan’s point of view, it was spot on. A mix of nerves, total conviction and a touch of “what are they looking at?” all squeezed into one frantic minute.
When Beaton finally pointed to the spot, there was that rush of relief. Then came the miss, the save, the loose ball and the chaos in the six-yard box. It somehow got even wilder.
Even after Hatate forced it over the line, plenty of supporters were still laughing at the commentary. In a derby that had everything, Celtic TV managed to add its own bit of drama to the afternoon.
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One Response
Aye Maedas header wuz headin past Joe butholez arm, Rod Stirling’s hand👊 redirected the header towards hey joez hawn🫳. Why wasn’t he sent aff fur blockin, then changin itz direction?????
Var is only helpful tae wan team there, and it wiznae Celtic??
Tha algorithm only pointz oot things, maybe it should also give tha decision withoot masonic monkey intervention.