Watch the sickening attack on Hatate that Willie Collum failed to punish

Willie Collum offered no protection to Reo Hatate from the brutality of opponents such as Mohamed Diomanse.

At Ibrox last month John Beaton gave the on loan midfielder licence to do as he pleased with that theme continued on Saturday by Willie Collum, another member of the influential Lanarkshire Refereeing Association.

Diomanse was signed on loan from Danish side Nordsjaelland in January with a commitment to make it a permanent deal in the summer with a £4.5m price tag. It looks like Phil Clement has thrown the bulk of his budget on the African midfielder.

Hatate seems to be a favourite target for Diomanse although he had fouled Callum McGregor in the second minute, no doubt picking up on instructions from Stuart McCall and Barry Ferguson.

The clip below shows the brutality involved, and effectively approved by Willie Collum.

As he sees Hatate advance towards goal his opponent is well aware of the threat posed, he slows down his run then drives his elbow into the back of Hatate’s neck bringing the move to an end.

Collum saw the incident, blew for a free kick and opted to take no further action, his yellow card remained in his pocket.

Decisions like that set the tone for the match. A booking in the first 10 minutes puts a ‘combative’ midfielder on egg shells for the remainder of the match, one more misplaced tackle and in normal circumstances they would be looking at a red card.

Taking encouragement from Collum, Diomanse was able to continue in the same mode throughout the match, enjoying the generosity of the top man from the SFA.

John Lundstram took that message too far although he almost earned a reprieve from Collum.

Sliding in with force on Alistair Johnston’s lower leg there was no doubt about the intent of the Scary Scouser, he hit the target and looked like escaping until Steven McLean was forced to intervene on VAR.

After a review the decision was upgraded from a yellow card to red, there was no protest from Lundstram as he accepted the inevitable and trudged down the tunnel.

The accepted wisdom is that Collum handled the match well, possibly justified in comparison to Beaton’s incredible display at Ibrox in the fixture last month but not in his application of the Laws of the Game.

Some folk seem to believe that a different version of the Laws apply to this fixture, that the match should flow with 11 men kept on the park for the team in blue at any cost.

Collum, Beaton and Crawford Allan’s other referees will soon be on holiday with none of them involved in the European Championships as UEFA bring together their 90 best officials for the month long event.