Doug Ward

Mon 12 April 2021 15:01, UK

Richard Foster has blasted Martin Boyle for diving to try and win a penalty for Hibernian in their 2-1 defeat to Rangers on Sunday.

Boyle was booked in the first half after he went down in the penalty area from a challenge by centre-back Connor Goldson.

Foster was less than impressed by the Australia international’s theatrics and shared what he noticed Goldson saying to him after the incident at Ibrox.

“Great turn from [Kevin] Nisbet, great turn from Boyle, he’s showing his pace,” said Foster on BBC Sportscene on Sunday night.

“I said it before, he looks like a child who’s learning to dive into a swimming pool. I don’t know what he’s thinking.

“It’s not a blatant dive and you can see, if you read Goldson’s lips, he said to Boyle after it, ‘it’s not a pen but I don’t think you dived’.

“But I disagree, I think he did dive.”

Awful dive

How was it not a dive?

People may argue that Goldson did make contact with Boyle and therefore it’s not a dive. But players still throw themselves down to the ground all the time for the slightest bit of contact.

We applaud referee Don Robertson for booking Boyle’s blatant simulation.

As Foster said, he looked like he was literally trying to dive, as someone would on a swimming lesson.

Goldson was probably just trying to keep the peace after the incident, which is why Foster noticed the Rangers defender saying that to the Hibs player. It doesn’t mean that’s what actually happened.

We’ll see whether the SFA will rescind the yellow card as they did with Alfredo Morelos earlier this season when he was booked despite being hauled down to the ground in the Livingston penalty area by their goalkeeper.

The SFA can do that but do we think they will? Well, we hope they don’t. Because it definitely wasn’t clear that he definitely didn’t dive whereas with Boyle, there are clear signs that he did.

In other Rangers news, Michael Stewart was found out on BBC radio on Sunday as his anti-Gers bias was unravelled by a simple possession stat.