Celtic fans were left frustrated on Thursday night as a TNT Sports blackout meant they missed one of their side’s Europa League goals in a crunch match against Utrecht.
It was a vital game for the Scottish champions, who have had a disastrous season that has seen both Brendan Rodgers and Wilfried Nancy depart, with Martin O’Neill currently in caretaker charge again.
Had they tasted defeat, they have been would be knocked out of Europe, missing out on a top-24 spot in the Europa League table, which would have earned them a play-off spot to somewhat salvage a tough campaign.
And it was the perfect start for the Hoops, who raced into a 3-0 lead inside 20 minutes thanks to goals from Benjamin Nygren, Arne Engels and and own goal from from away captain Nick Viergever.
But things got nervy after the break when Dani de Wit and Adrian Blake reduced the deficit to one, and things got worse when the TNT Sports feed cut out.
It caused a blackout, with viewers unable to see any action for around four minutes. Adverts were briefly shown while the channel scrambled to fix technical issues.
By the time the action returned, another goal had been scored. And, somewhat to the relief of home fans, it was their side who had netted.
Former Arsenal man Auston Trusty headed home a corner to make it 4-2 on the night and give his side some breathing room, four minutes on from Utrecht’s second of the night.
The feed cut back in to show Trusty celebrating, and TNT then showed replays to fans to let them know what they had missed.
And though it was good news for the Hoops by the time the pictures had returned, their supporters nonetheless took their frustrations to social media.
One fan wrote on X: ‘This is absolutely awful from Celtic. And it seems the camera operator has had enough because the TNT Sports stream is gone.’
Another posted: ‘TNT why ye showing an advert midway through the 2nd half of the Celtic game?’
A third said: ‘Celtic score and TNT Sports made us miss it. Stupid channel! MON EH SELLICK!’
