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Cup final penalty U-turn endorsed
2011-03-21 15:12:17
Retired referee Kenny Clark has praised Craig Thomson for rescinding a penalty award in the Scottish League Cup final.
Thomson pointed to the spot after Celtic's Thomas Rogne tackled Rangers' Nikica Jelavic but recanted the award.
And Rangers manager Walter Smith, whose side won the match, described Thomson's actions as dangerous.
"What's dangerous about someone recognising that they have made an error and saying, 'I want to correct it?'," Clark told BBC Scotland.
"I think he should be praised for it, not criticised for it. I don't see what's dangerous about it.
"Like everyone else, at first viewing I thought it was a penalty. I realised very quickly that Craig had changed his mind and it seemed to me that he changed his mind almost instantaneously as sometimes happen with referees; you blow your whistle and then you think, 'now wait a minute that's wrong'.
"They said in the TV commentary that they thought there had been intervention from the other officials. I'm absolutely satisfied that wasn't the case. I don't think they were in a position to do that and it all happened too quickly for it to be that.