Kettlewell says SFA have set standard on penalties with late Celtic spot-kick decision

Kilmarnock manager Stuart Kettlewell says the SFA have “set the standard” on what is a penalty following the decision to award Celtic a late spot-kick at the weekend.

The Rugby Park side looked as though they had done enough to earn a point against the champions until the ball deflected off Lewis Mayo’s arm in injury-time.

Referee John Beaton was called over to the monitor to review the incident before pointing to the spot, and Kelechi Iheanacho stepped up to win the game on his debut.

Speaking ahead of Friday night’s League Cup quarter-final against St Mirren, Kettlewell said he is expecting to “see a lot of penalties” in coming games if the same rules are followed, and will be keeping an eye out for consistency across the board.

The former Motherwell boss revealed he did not contact Willie Collum, head of referee operations at the Scottish Football Association, as “there’s a chain of decisions and thought processes and statements that have kind of told us that that can be given as a penalty”.

He said: “Where I go now is in my conclusion is that we’ll be seeing a lot of penalties and a lot that people are going to be really, really frustrated by.

“Now what I’ll question is, if those instances aren’t given as penalties, then that one (against Killie) was wrong. If they are given, then there’s a consistency in that.

“So whether it’s against us, whether it’s for us, whether it’s Friday night or whether it goes further down the line, I think I’ll be speaking for the vast majority of people that have a vested interest in Scottish football and tell you we don’t want to see them given as penalties.

“It has been talked about a number of times about where do we pitch the bar and what do the clubs want to see as the stakeholders, and I would be amazed if you speak to any clubs that want that to be given as a penalty.

“But now I believe we’ve set a standard in what’s going to be a penalty.

“So I would envisage that those types of scenarios, and maybe even not as harsh as that, I would imagine that they will now be given as penalties.

“What I’m saying is there has to be a consistency in the decision-making within the games.

“I know that everything’s not identical. Everything’s not always exactly as that one was. I thought that (on Sunday) was an extreme case.

“I think we could all see that the ball’s not heading towards the goal. And so, as I say, I’m somebody that likes clarity, likes consistency, same as everybody else.

“I have a lot of conversations with a lot of different people within Scottish football; the media, coaching staff, players, punters, people that have got the best interests of Scottish football at heart, and I don’t think we want to see that.

“But I think we have set a precedent on Sunday as to what’s going to be given as a penalty.”