AN HONEST MAN

AN honest man , as Rabbie wrote, is the noblest work of God. So referee Dougie McDonald should step forward to be acknowledged as such.

McDonald, for instance, could have taken the easy way out at Tannadice by sticking to his original decision to award Celtic a penalty kick, despite the intervention of linesman Steven Craven.

Just think, regardless of what Craven told him, McDonald could have confirmed the award, and all would have continued happily, with the spotlight on the players and not him.

That though would not only have been the coward's way out, it would also have been extremely dishonest of McDonald.  For by his reversal he clearly did believe the linesman was better positioned to see what happened, and that Craven was therefore able to give him information not previously  in his possession.

It was a brave bit of refereeing, and also proved McDonald  to be an extremely fair minded man.

If there was an error in the incident it happened when Craven, on seeing McDonald point to the spot, made his way to the position behind the goal, taken up by assistants at a spot kick, before attracting the referee's attention.

What Craven should have done is stand his ground, raise his flag, and let the ref know in his earpiece just what his view was.

Television pictures clearly showed that Gary Hooper was fouled by Kenneth before he got in on keeper Dusan Pernis, but retained his balance and possession of the ball, leading to McDonald making the snap judgement of applying the advantage, as refs are told to.

Equally television also clearly showed that when the keeper went down at the Celtic man's feet he made contact with the ball first and his momentum meant contact with the player followed.

For where McDonald was, although closer to the action than the linesman, he nevertheless did not have as clear a view as Craven, whose angle was better, despite the difference in distance.

For all of that, it is understandable that the Celtic bench were in such a state of high emotion. It is not very often a referee points to the spot, only to change his mind.

That this was Dougie McDonald, and that this was Celtic, it is invetiable that the conspiracy theorists would draw their own conclusions. And just as inevitable they would be the wrong ones.

The fall out from the flashpoint has already been considerable, though goodness knows just how much more it would have been had Dundee United held on for a draw, to put the first blemish on Celtic's SPL record.

And, while staying on the fair minded theme, that would not have been a just reflection of the way the game was played, as Celtic did the bulk of the attacking and looked slick, swift and exciting, if less than  the lethal finishers Neil Lennon would wish them to be.

Twenty four hours earlier Lennon had  been at Ibrox to see Rangers beat Motherwell 4-1, and show dead-eyed finishing with three goals in a four minute second half spell.

He will be warning his team this week of the movement up front of Kenny Miller and Kyle Lafferty, plus the sparkling form of Steven Naismith, not to mention the range of danger carried by Steven Davis.

And when Walter Smith begins his look at Celtic, after the Champions League encounter with Valencia, there are plenty of new things about Lennon's team to give him food for thought, notably the fine form of Hooper, who has that instinctive nose for goal which is such a vital part of any striker's armoury.

That, plus the swift switching of positions which makes Georgios Samaras so hard to pin down, and the shrewd passing from midfielder Cha Du-Ri, make Lennon's team a far more formidable force than the Tony Mowbray outfit of last term.

Sunday's first Old Firm set-to of the season , with both teams entering it in proud possession if a 100per cent SPL record, is indeed shaping up to be a fascinating affair.

Let us all therefore hope that the talking points next Monday morning concern the relative merits of both teams and have nothing to do with the referee.

Willie Collum will take charge, and after the way he handled the explosive nature of the recent Aberdeen-Rangers fixture, getting this even more powderkeg one could be seen as a reward.

All that anyone can ask of any referee is that he calls it as he sees it gets most of the big decisions right, and that if either of his assistants, who he believes have a better view, draw his attention to a contrary view, the man in charge is brave enough to change his decision.

Nothing could be more courageous or fair minded than that.