BBC Sportscene pundit baffled by Rangers and Dundee United penalty incident
Rangers were handed a huge let-off as a handball from Dundee United’s Scott McMann offered the Gers a second-half penalty.
The Bears’ won by just 1-0 after a close encounter with Dundee United with the visitors’ doing all they could to take a point from the title contenders.
James Tavernier was on the spot to put the ball in the back of the net for Rangers, calmly slotting it to the goalkeeper’s right in the 71st minute of the game.
BBC Sportscene pundits had their say on the penalty incident on Saturday night.
James McFadden feels as though it was going to take an incident, such as the penalty one, for the game to be decided.
The ex-Motherwell player said: “It looked like something Rangers needed to get in front in the game because if you look at the chances they had, they weren’t clinical.
“Trevor Carson was outstanding, and you felt it was going to take something like that.”
Former Rangers player Rory Loy couldn’t get his head around McMann’s handball, saying that it was a needless reaction to Tavernier’s cross by the Dundee United player.
“[Charlie] Mulgrew and [Ryan[ Edwards were absolutely brilliant all day and I think if that ball does get past McMann, they deal with it,” said Loy.
“I don’t know why he panicked so much and stuck his hand out.”
Dominant
Rangers were frustrated for large parts of the game whilst completely dominating in all areas. Despite having 69% possession, the Bears had to rely on some ‘panicked’ defending from McMann, conceding a penalty with an outstretched right arm as he attempted to head the ball clear.
Dundee almost did enough to leave the Ibrox with a point and may have deserved one thanks to some heroic defending from Dundee, but the Gers thought hard to extend their win streak to eight league games.
A vital three points as anything less could have seen Celtic move within striking distance ahead of the Old Firm clash on 2 January.
Rangers have now moved seven points clear of their rivals and will look to keep that safety net as we enter the second half of the season.
However, Celtic do have a game in had to close the gap to four points as a result of their Scottish League Cup Final clash today (December 19th) with Hibernian.
In other Rangers news, BT Sport pundit reacts to John Hartson ‘shock’ tweet after Rangers win v Dundee United.