Gordon Smith lashes out at referee for dishing Allan McGregor suspension
Rangers TV pundit Gordon Smith slammed referee Slavko Vincic for booking Allan McGregor as Rangers lost 2-1 to Malmo on Tuesday night as they were knocked out of the Champions League at Ibrox.
Gers took the lead through striker Alfredo Morelos in the 19th minute of the contest, but were handed a bit of a scare in the 34th minute when McGregor was deemed to have handled the ball outside the penalty area.
The linesman on the near side did not lift his flag, but Vincic decided that McGregor was guilty and cautioned him with a yellow card.
Smith, who was on co-commentary for the game on Rangers TV, said, “It’s ridiculous. You think [the linesman] would’ve flagged that foul if it was one.
“There’s no way in the position he was, for the referee to get that one correctly.”
Right call?
To the naked eye, it seemed like the referee had made a mare, and hearts would’ve been on tenterhooks inside Ibrox as goalkeepers have been sent off for such things.
However, it was only a yellow and the entire heaved a huge sigh of relief. The Gers players were still protesting the decision, but on second viewing it seemed like the referee got it spot on.
It looked narrowly ahead of the line when the TV cameras zoomed in on the incident, which is surprising, given that the referee wasn’t anywhere close to that situation and the linesman was unmoved.
He probably spoke to Vincic in his ear and told him about it, because if even he didn’t see it then the referee has purely gone on his instinct and got it right this time.
That said, minutes later he wrongly handed Innocent a second yellow, ensuring that Malmo will play the entire second half with ten men.
We should’ve taken advantage of this, but unfortunately, we capitulated in the second half and our Champions League dreams came crashing down to earth.
In other Rangers news, ‘Struggling to see…’ – BT Sport pundit baffled by one Rangers ace in loss v Dundee Utd