Hibs boss Lee Johnson has say on his yellow card against Celtic - 'Not something I want to do'

Hibs manager Lee Johnson has explained why he received a yellow card during Saturday’s 3-1 defeat by Celtic.

The Easter Road boss was cautioned by referee Steven McLean during first-half injury time after an additional ball was thrown onto the pitch from the away dugout to prevent the hosts from taking a quick free kick in front of the technical area.

The whistler approached the bench and booked Johnson, but the manager protested his innocence when asked about it after that match, alleging that none of the officials knew who was responsible.

"I was shown a yellow card because a Hibs staff member had apparently thrown another ball onto the pitch for whatever reason, which isn't something I advocate or want to do. There's an element of game management of course, but that's not it,” Johnson explained.

Referee Steven McLean shows the yellow card to Hibs boss Lee Johnson

"Apparently they didn't know who it was and in those cases the manager takes responsibility for the technical area so that’s why I got booked. Whoever did do it will be paying two weeks' wages!"

Johnson – who renewed his pleas for full-time officials in Scottish football – also took aim at McLean who initially awarded Celtic a second penalty and booked David Marshall for supposedly fouling Liel Abada, before viewing it again on the VAR monitors and overturning both the award and the booking.

"The overturned penalty was ridiculous,” he continued. “Everybody could see that it was a good save by Marsh and Abada fell over his own feet. The ref had a great view of it. If the refs were training full time they would understand that these things aren't fouls.”