RONNY DEILA insists the penalty claim which went in Celtic's favour in the 3-0 Scottish Premiership win over Dundee United cannot stand comparison with the one that got away last week.

The third goal in Leigh Griffiths' second-half hat-trick at Tannadice came courtesy of a spot-kick awarded six minutes from time, but television pictures showed that United skipper John Rankin's initial contact on Hoops' substitute Gary Mackay-Steven came outside the box.

The irony was not lost on those who had witnessed another traumatic week in Scottish football following referee Steven McLean's refusal to award the Scottish Premiership leaders a blatant penalty for a Josh Meekings handball in the 3-2 William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final defeat by Inverness last Sunday.

Celtic wrote to the Scottish Football Association seeking an explanation and Meekings was offered a one-game ban by the SFA's compliance officer Tony McGlennan before the case was dismissed, leaving him free to play against Falkirk in the final.

The Hoops re-established their eight-point lead over Aberdeen at the top of the table with Sunday's victory but Deila appeared to be still sore about the way his dreams of a treble were ended against the Highlanders and would not broker comparisons between the two penalty decisions.

The Norwegian said: "I agree (decisions even up over a season) but what happened last Sunday was not normal.

"This is a totally different thing. I rarely talk about referees' decisions but last Sunday was a thing that really affected the game.

"We had full control over the game, we were 1-0 up and we had assistants on the goal-line also so I don't think you can say that this was the same as what happened today.

"It was a totally different thing. And the cup of course, is one game, so it is different.

"If it was wrong today it would not have affected the game.

"If it was only 1-0 I could understand it could be an issue. I don't mind if we win 2-0 or 3-0, we deserved to win the game."

Dundee United boss Jackie McNamara was prepared to cut referee William Collum and his assistants some slack.

He said: "Like everybody else - well, maybe not everybody else - I thought it was out of the box.

"The referee has made a mistake but that happens, as we have seen over the piece.

"It doesn't matter we were losing 2-0, it is still a goal conceded and it does matter but it is a mistake, the same as the players made mistakes for the first and second goals. It happens, officials are human."

Meanwhile, Stefan Johansen has been voted Player of the Year by the Celtic fans. The Norwegian midfielder also shared the Players' Player of the Year award with captain Scott Brown. Jason Denayer lifted the prize for Young Player of the Year.

The results of the voting for the club's awards were announced last night, with Kris Commons winning Goal of the Year for his strike against Rangers in the League Cup semi-final.

Just a matter of hours after he had banged in a hat-trick at Tannadice to take his tally so far this season to 18, Leigh Griffiths was confirmed as Top Scorer.

Financial Director, Eric Riley, received a Special Recognition award.