Guidetti's No Cheat - Deila

Photo by Jeff Holmes

Ronny Deila has backed penalty row striker John Guidetti as he stressed there would be no cheating permitted at Celtic. The 22-year-old Swede won and scored a controversial spot-kick in Sunday's 4-0 William Hill Scottish Cup win over Hearts at Tynecastle. The Jambos were incensed when referee Willie Collum pointed to the spot after the on-loan Manchester City forward went down in the box following a challenge from defender Brad McKay. It is understood the Scottish Football Association's compliance officer, Tony McGlennan, will not be taking any retrospective action against the Hoops player after viewing footage of the incident. And ahead of the Scottish Premiership game against Partick Thistle on Wednesday night, the Celtic boss contributed his thoughts to the debate. "Maybe it was not a penalty but it is a long way from there to diving," he said. "It looked like he slipped a bit so it is nothing, it is a decision the referee has made. "Of course I understand the discussion but he didn't do anything wrong." Asked if Guidetti should have told Collum there had been no contact, the Norwegian replied: "No, as a player you don't know everything that is happening. "When you play you play to win and you are so focused on winning. "We don't want cheats, that's an important thing but I don't think he was wanting a penalty. "Things happen in the game and over a long season it will even out, that's how it is going to be. "But this situation isn't the reason why we won this game, we had a lot of chances and we deserved to win." Deila also reiterated his backing of Aleksandar Tonev, whose appeal against his seven-game ban for racially abusing Aberdeen defender Shay Logan will be on Thursday. The on-loan Aston Villa winger was found guilty by a Scottish FA judicial panel, on the balance of probability, of excessive misconduct by the use of offensive, insulting and abusive language of a racist nature" during a Premiership clash between the two teams in September. "We have to do everything in our power to get this away from Aleksandar," said the former Stromsgodset boss. "We don't believe Aleksandar is a racist. We believe him. "It is word against word and you can't take it seriously when it is word against word. "It should be real proof. "If there is no more proof than word against word then we have to do everything we can to help Aleksandar. "This is a real serious accusation, very serious, and you have to absolutely know that you are right. "So I hope he doesn't get judged on word against word." Efe Ambrose insists the Celtic squad will stand by the Bulgarian regardless of the appeal decision. The Hoops defender said: "Anything that comes out of the appeal, we will stand by him as a team." Following their win at Tynecastle, Celtic were drawn away to Dundee in the last 16 of the William Hill Scottish Cup, a tie described by Deila as "a tough game". However, the Parkhead boss has plenty of games before the trip to Tayside in February, starting with the visit of Thistle where a victory will take Celtic three points clear of Inverness at the top of the table. He said: "We have the opportunity to go three points ahead and put pressure on the others. "We'll do everything we can to make a good performance tomorrow. Hopefully we'll beat Partick."