Rangers penalty incident leads to call for VAR from Andy Walker
Andy Walker suggested that VAR is needed in the Scottish Premiership as Rangers beat Hearts 2-0.
First half goals from Alfredo Morelos and Joe Aribo secured victory for Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side at Tynecastle on Sunday afternoon.
Midway through the second half Hearts had a penalty shout waved away as the ball appeared to strike Connor Goldson’s hand from Gary Mackay-Steven’s cut back.
Commentating on the game for Sky Sports, Walker indicated he felt it was a spot kick.
“If we have VAR in Scotland then I think that could be a penalty,” he said. “It’s really difficult to spot, but when you see it, I think it could be a penalty.”
Harsh
In real time, it was hard to judge exactly what part of Goldson’s body the ball touched, but when the replays were slowed down it was hard to get away from the fact that it was handball.
However, there was certainly no intent from the Rangers centre-back and his arms look to be in a fairly natural position down by his side. It certainly would have been a harsh decision to award a penalty.
Would VAR have given it? It would probably have been looked at and similar incidents have been penalised in the Premier League this season.
But it is also worth pointing out that if VAR was in action this afternoon, it would have spotted that the ball had gone out of play before Mackay-Steven cut it back into the centre of the box where Goldson was.
Every time a controversial refereeing decision is made in the Scottish Premiership, the debate about VAR rears its head again. Yet the reality is that there is just as much disagreement about refereeing decisions in leagues where VAR is present.
In other Rangers news, the Bears have doubts about signing a European wonderkid.