Michael Stewart stunned as Willie Collum sends Rangers ace John Lundstram off v Hibernian
Michael Stewart is baffled by Willie Collum’s decision to send John Lundstram off in Rangers’ 2-2 draw away at Hibernian on Saturday.
With Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men 2-1 up at Easter Road, Hibs looked to launch a counter-attacker through Martin Boyle.
Lundstram, 28, slid from behind the Hibs player while in his own half and committed a cynical foul that usually always results in a yellow card.
However, everyone was stunned to see Collum brandish a red card before he then sent Alfredo Morelos off – albeit less controversially – and Hibs scored a stoppage-time equaliser.
Stewart couldn’t believe what he witnessed.
Speaking on BBC Sportscene on Saturday night (20 August, 13m31s), Stewart said: “Well you can see Lundstram’s reaction.
“Everything that anybody knows about football recognises it as a tactical foul.
“He’s stopping Hibs countering, he does it because he knows he’s not running the risk of a red card.
” He does it because he knows he’s going to pick up a yellow card here and you can see the reaction from him.
“He was flabbergasted.
“He was shaking his head and almost laughing at it it was such a crazy decision.”
Ridiculous
As you can see in the Sky Sports clip above, Lundstram took Boyle out but there was no malice about the challenge and it certainly didn’t endanger the Hibs man.
It was basically a trip.
Yes, he did it on purpose but you see fouls like that in every single match where a defending player takes out an opposing player in a safe area of the pitch to stop a counterattack.
Lundstram should have been booked – a red card by Collum was crazy.
We saw a challenge by a Hibs player in the first half where the exact same thing happened yet that didn’t result in a red.
We really do hope the SFA overturn that red card but we wouldn’t be shocked if they stick with Collum’s decision because they’re just as clueless as the man in the middle.
Everyone’s calling for VAR now due to how bad the decisions are in the Scottish Premiership.
But these referees are still going to be running it.
God help anyone who has VAR overseen by Collum during one of their games.
It’ll be mayhem.
In other Rangers news, this Ibrox star has been dubbed as a realistic late summer signing for Aston Villa.