OWN GOAL

SPFL wouldn’t have forced Celtic or Rangers to play without keeper.. St Mirren are right to be aggrieved says Commons

KRIS COMMONS insists there's NO chance Celtic or Rangers would have been forced to play without three keepers.

The former Hoops star laid into SPFL chiefs after St Mirren were ordered to play Hibs despite their goalies being ruled out due in a Covid-19 crisis.

Jak Alnwick and Dean Lyness both tested positive for coronavirus, while third-choice keeper Peter Urminsky was forced to isolate.

The Buddies were told the game would go ahead even if an outfield player had to go in goal.

Emergency loan keeper Bobby Zlamal eventually played in the 3-0 defeat after he was drafted in from Hearts.

But Saints boss Jim Goodwin blasted league chiefs for making Scottish football a laughing stock.

And Commons agrees, saying the SPFL would never have allowed an Old Firm match to be played in similar circumstances.

He told the Daily Mail: "Can you imagine if we had an Old Firm game, with the league on the line in one of the last matches of the Premiership season, and the very same situation as happened to St Mirren occurred at Lennoxtown?

"Imagine the SPFL said to Celtic: 'You've got no goalkeepers. You've just got to get on with it. Deal with it.' If Celtic had to face Rangers with, say, James Forrest in goals, there would be carnage. Let's not pretend otherwise.

"But it wouldn't even get to that stage because, 100 per cent, the league would postpone the game. If they didn't, there would be uproar.

"Imagine viewers tuning in from all over the world to see that match live on television with ten-in-a-row, and potentially another Treble, at stake.

"History and dreams are on the line this season and, if they were compromised by a ruling that left Celtic or Rangers without a goalkeeper or scrambling around to find one at the very last minute it would make the league and those who run it look absolutely idiotic.

"If you're asking me if I think St Mirren are being punished because they are St Mirren, I would have to say: 'Without a doubt, definitely'.

"I think the league look at them and think: 'Oh, it's just little St Mirren over in Paisley. There's not too many supporters who are going to kick up a fuss about this.'

"The big hitters in the league would be treated properly if this happened to them, but St Mirren should have been given a bit more respect and a bit of leeway after a situation that was not of their making.

"I know the authorities will point to the fact that the fixture schedule is ridiculously tight this season.

"But these are unprecedented times amid a global pandemic that has taken its toll on sport harder than ever before.

"It's not a good look when one of the Scottish Premiership's managers, Jim Goodwin, is describing it as being in danger of becoming the laughing stock of world football.

"The authorities have got it badly wrong. Again."