Celtic put Rangers to the sword in a 1-0 victory at Hampden on Sunday with a Jota header late in the first half proving decisive.
Ange Postecoglou and his players rejoiced with the Celtic support following the match however before kick off, there was a last minute change regarding the man in the middle.
Moments prior to kick off, Willie Collum had to pull out through injury thus Don Robertson, who was due to be fourth official, took charge of the match.
The whistler told The Scottish Sun about the last minute alteration:
“Willie came off and there was nothing abnormal. When we got in the changing room Willie said he thought he’d done his calf.
“He thought it was serious but he didn’t want to call off. The former SFA doctor John MacLean was working at the game and assessed him between 1.15pm and 1.20pm.
“I thought it didn’t look good and decided I’d better get ready in case he had to call off. At around 1.20pm they made the decision he wasn’t going to start so I had ten minutes’ notice.”
Receiving ten minutes notice before refereeing one of the fiercest derbies in world football is not the most ideal scenario although Robertson handled himself and the situation rather well.
He then said that his family would’ve been surprised to have seen him in the middle:
“My wife and father-in-law were at the game, and said they were as surprised as everyone when they saw the teams walking out.
“They must have thought Willie had had a hair transplant then realised it wasn’t Willie who was refereeing!”
It was undoubtedly a sharp turnaround for Robertson yet he he praised the players for how good they were in the 90:
“I was fortunate there were no controversial decisions and the players played in a good spirit. It was so unusual though, in my whole career I’ve never had it happen.”
Finally, Robertson said it was vastly encouraging for refereeing in Scotland that the situation was dealt with in the way it was:
“It wasn’t just me taking over from Willie but him standing in as fourth official and John coming in for him.
“It was a real positive for Scottish refereeing.”
Although referees in Scotland do come in for much criticism, they did do a good job at the weekend.
Did a good job? You must be joking, how was that not a foul on O’Reilly? His cheating caught up with him when we scored from the aftermath of Rangers players stopping for the free!