Joe Ellis

Sat 20 August 2022 15:10, UK

Rangers were pegged back twice by Hibernian as Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side only took a point away from Easter Road on Saturday.

Captain James Tavernier opened the scoring from the penalty spot on the stroke of half-time and Tom Lawrence put the Light Blues back in front after Martin Boyle’s leveller.

But Josh Campbell lashed in an injury-time equaliser to send the green half of Edinburgh wild as the nine men of Rangers couldn’t quite hold on.

Alfredo Morelos followed John Lundstram down the tunnel for an early bath but both decisions were contentious at best as referee Willie Collum lost control of the game.

Pundit Tam McManus was among those gobsmacked at the decision to send Lundtstram off for what everyone had assumed would be a standard cynical yellow card.

“Collum having an absolute shocker,” he said via his personal Twitter account. “That’s not a red card on Lundstram. All about him as per usual.”

Robbed

With 11 players on the pitch, as the Bears should have had until the final whistle, Hibernian don’t get anywhere near an equaliser and Rangers probably add another to make the game safe.

Collum’s incompetency has cost van Bronckhorst’s side two points which could prove vital come the end of the season given the strength of both his and Ange Postecoglu’s Celtic side compared to the rest of the division.

It’s almost as if the referee enjoyed making the wrong decision and rattling the packed-out away end at Easter Road because there was no hesitation from him or consultation with his assistant officials.

It is not ideal to already be on the back foot in the title race so soon in the season but the only positive that can be taken out of the situation is that there are plenty of fixtures for Rangers to right the wrongs but they could do with a competent man in the middle more often than not.

In other Rangers news, Barry Ferguson has had his say on a major piece of news that came out of Ibrox during the week.