LIAM SCALES insists the VAR penalty decision at Easter Road was the RIGHT call.
The Celtic stopper was ruled to have handled the ball to concede a second-half spot-kick to Hibs.
And Scales, 27, refused to slam the decision by referee Nick Walsh after he was told to have another look on TV replays.
The Republic of Ireland centre-half said: “I’m not going to complain about it.
“I believe my hand’s probably up. The ball comes through a lot of bodies and I don’t anticipate it coming to me.
“I would have to watch it back, but at the time I thought it was going to go to VAR and probably be a penalty, so I had no real complaints.”
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Martin Boyle netted the spot-kick, but Hibs came up against some brilliant defending as they were denied an equaliser.
Scales added: “In the first half we had a lot of joy.
“We started slow, but after ten or 15 minutes once we got control of the ball we had a lot of joy.
“The second half is a completely different game and it was a battle in the end — we did well to get through it.”
Hibs boss David Gray was left gutted by the result, but proud of the way his team battled back from 2-0 down. He also refused to hammer keeper Raphael Sallinger for gifting Celts the opener.
He said: “I don’t think it was a terrible decision on his part.
“He lost his footing and we gifted Celtic a goal, because that’s what it was, it was a gift.
“But it’s not through them doing something that they are not being asked to do.
“I take responsibility for that because of how we play.
“The frustration probably comes from you giving Celtic a two-goal start after a really positive start to the game.
“It was what I asked the players to do pre-match, to be aggressive and to be on the front foot. And I have certainly seen that.
“We created the best chance of the game.
“The lesson there is you probably need to take those chances.
“They don’t come that often, especially against teams like Celtic, therefore you need to make sure you take them.
“We then find ourselves 2-0 down. From that point, in the game we needed half-time.
“Celtic were in the ascendancy, we got spooked a little bit by that.
“Then in the second half I thought that it was a good reaction from us again.
“When I strip it back, I hate losing games of football and I’ll never accept that.
“But I’ve certainly seen the reaction to our result last Tuesday night at the start of the game.
“And then I’ve seen the reaction in the second half today.
“Once we got the goal, there was only one team going to go and score the next one I felt. We definitely deserved to get something out of the game, apart from that two-minute period within the first half.
“We limited Celtic to very little, we had big chances in the game and didn’t take them.
“So the frustration is certainly there because we deserved to get something out of the game.”
The major boost for Hibs was the return to action of key midfielder Joe Newell after almost a year out injured.
Gray added: “He has been working ever so hard to try and get back into the squad and get back in.
“From a training point of view, he’s been on the bench the last couple of games and I’ve not put him on.
“I thought when he came on today he was good, he showed what he was — that leader, driving the game.
“All the subs that came on made a really positive impact, and that’s what they are asked to do.
“We pushed Celtic right to the very end and I felt we deserved to get something out of the game.
“We need to keep moving forward now and we have another big came next weekend.”
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