Deila blasts brash Boyata

Ronny Deila says the decision to send Dedryck Boyata off five minutes before half-time was the correct one.

Many Celtic fans were none to pleased by the decision to give a red card, citing that the 25-year-old won the ball before taking the man as a result of making the challenge.

However, from what Deila saw, he believes that referee Craig Thomson was correct to send the Belgian centre-back off for his challenge on Carlton Morris.

As quoted by the Scotsman, he said:

I think the red card was an okay decision. I have seen it one more time and I don’t think Dedryck is touching the ball. We have to learn from these situations. When you are one v one, you have to run with people.

We have very quick defenders, so you should run with the strikers instead of taking chances. We got caught and it put us in a difficult situation. That is rule number one for defenders – stay on your feet and run with people.

Celtic took the lead through Leigh Griffiths 10 minutes before half-time after he found the net from the penalty spot for his 33rd of the season.

Michael McGovern denied him a second penalty having guessed right and saved from Gary Mackay-Steven in a one-on-one situation on the 49th minute.

The Accies dug in and earned a point thanks to substitute Eamonn Brophy, who equalised 17 minutes from time.

I’m disappointed that we dropped two points. I’m disappointed that we went down to ten men because we were controlling the game quite well in that position at 1-0 up.

We had two one-on-ones with the goalkeeper and a penalty which we missed. It is going to be hard to win when you miss those chances.

In the second half, we still produced good chances and should have scored two and killed the game but we couldn’t do it and in the end the opponents got a chance or two and they had a good finish on the set play.

The 1-1 draw moved Celtic seven points clear, but Aberdeen play later today (Saturday) with the chance to close the gap to just four points at the top of the table.

Celtic are in action again on Wednesday night against Dundee at Paradise and the pressure will be on to get back to winning ways.