Doug Ward

Sun 20 February 2022 13:54, UK

Andy Walker spotted Fashion Sakala getting his shirt pulled in the penalty area by Ross Graham as Rangers drew 1-1 with Dundee United at Tannadice on Sunday.

After a good save by goalkeeper Benjamin Siegrist, substitute Sakala went to follow up on the ball to try and score but couldn’t get to it as Graham had a handful of the Zambian’s shirt.

Referee Bobby Madden didn’t see the incident and ex-Celtic man Walker feels that was due to how many people were in the penalty area.

“There’s that pull of the jersey,” said Walker on Sky Sports Football on Sunday [20 February, 01:18pm]. “It puts Sakala off but it’s not spotted by anyone.

“There was a sea of bodies and Bobby Madden is at the edge of the box and can’t see that. But it’s a terrific save from Siegrist.”

Ian Crocker then added: “Rangers certainly will feel they had a shout there for a penalty.”

Stonewall

It’s simple, that was a penalty.

While Madden might have the excuse that he didn’t see it through the crowd of players, he has an assistant referee who should’ve also been able to spot it.

It’s yet another reason as to why VAR is needed in Scottish football because there are instances where things happen that referees cannot see.

We won’t go over the top on blaming Madden for this particular incident but he didn’t have a good game at Tannadice on Sunday and could have benefitted massively from having VAR to fall back upon.

Unfortunately, we do not trust Scottish referees to utilise VAR as well as should be because they’re just not up to scratch.

Rangers have raised their concerns with the Scottish FA this season already and we saw how those from outside the walls of Ibrox – especially in Glasgow’s East End – mocked us.

However, it benefits everyone. We see Celtic fans moaning every week about refereeing decisions.

We don’t think there’s a conspiracy, we just think some of them are not fit for purpose.

In other Rangers news, Steven Gerrard has sent a message to this Gers player.