Keith Hackett: Referee missed clear back-pass in Rangers win v Aberdeen
We’re delighted to welcome former Premier League referee Keith Hackett as our exclusive Rangers columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Ibrox…
Keith Hackett has insisted that the officials missed a “Deliberate” backpass in the Rangers win against Aberdeen on Saturday.
The ex-FIFA official admitted that David Bates knew exactly what he was doing as he poked back to the keeper.
The footage was shown by BBC Sportscene (05 March, 16:05), with the officials happy that he was challenging Alfredo Morelos.
“I think he knew exactly what he was doing,” he exclusively told Ibrox News.
“He’s under pressure, the law states – I think that is a deliberate pass to the goalkeeper. It would have been an in-direct freekick, I think he knew, that is a deliberate pass to the goalkeeper.”
Deliberate.
Another weekend has delivered yet again, numerous decisions that the Scottish officials simply got wrong.
Bate wasn’t even in the motion of tackling Morelos as he intercepted the ball beforehand, and on that basis, he passed the ball.
Along with some nasty challenges throughout, the officials never seem to fill anyone with confidence that they will get a big call right.
With VAR potentially coming into play soon, we could see some changes – although, we don’t believe this would have been seen as a clear and obvious error.
The Europa League is back on Thursday, meaning technology and better officials, let’s hope for some control.
In other Rangers news, this BBC pundit was left ‘screaming’ after major transfer development at Ibrox