BBC Sportscene pundit reacts to Rangers controversy v Aberdeen as footage emerges
Leanne Crichton has rubbished claims that there was a foul in the build-up to Kemar Roofe’s winner for Rangers against Aberdeen on Saturday.
Roofe, 29, scored in the 81st minute after he came off the bench to help the Light Blues win 1-0 over Jim Goodwin’s side at Ibrox.
Speaking on BBC Sportscene, Crichton rubbished Goodwin’s appeals that Calvin Ramsey fouled Calvin Ramsay in the build-up to Roofe’s winner.
BBC Sportscene host Jonathan Sutherland asked Crichton: “Was it onside and, as Jim Goodwin claims, was there a foul in the build-up?”
Crichton replied: “It’s definitely onside.
“I think we’ve looked at it a number of times in the build-up to this and I can understand the claims for a foul.
“But for me, it would be soft.
“This is the claim here for the foul. Bassey looks to keep the ball alive.
“For me, there’s not enough and there’s a lot of play that happens beyond that point.
“Aberdeen have got numerous opportunities to deal with it and they don’t.
“And it clearly shows that Kemar Roofe is onside. It’s an important goal and it’s a good goal by Kemar Roofe.”
Never a foul
Goodwin is clearly hurt seeing his side lose by one goal at such a late stage of the game and if it was the other way around, we’d probably look through our blue-tinted specs and say the same thing.
However, it really wasn’t a foul by Bassey.
He didn’t use excessive force to win the ball against Ramsay, he simply outmuscled the young defender.
And then Roofe clearly wasn’t offside, there’s simply no doubt about that and we cannot see why it would even be brought up by Sutherland on BBC Sportscene.
Rangers are winning games now but they’re winning them ugly.
As it stands, we’re level on points with Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic and the pressure will now be on them to get a result against Livingston at midday on Sunday.
If they slip up at Almondvale, you can see the tides turning but when we look away from the East End for a moment, we need to get our own house in order.
Most of the domestic performances lately haven’t been good enough.
That must change as soon as possible.
In other Rangers news, the Gers are in pursuit of a Dutch ace who van Bronckhorst handed his senior debut.