BBC Sportscene pundit clashes with Michael Stewart over Rangers penalty controversy v Ross County
James McFadden clashed with Michael Stewart as the two BBC Scotland pundits disagreed over whether or not Rangers should have been awarded a penalty against Ross County on Saturday.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side won the game 4-0 at Ibrox but it could have been a higher scoreline had Don Robertson pointed to the spot when Scott Wright saw a cross strike the arm of County’s Ben Purrington.
Purrington slid in to block the cross but the ball went under his body and struck his arm while he was in the air.
Stewart doesn’t believe it was a spot kick, saying that it wasn’t deliberate.
Speaking on BBC Sportscene on Saturday night (28 August, 15m29s), Stewart said: “For me, the thing is, is it intentional?
“I don’t think it is.
“His arm is not on the ground so the defence of it supporting the body isn’t there.
“But I do feel his arms are in a fairly natural position.
“It looks a little bit awkward because he’s moved his arm. Is he trying to get his arm out of the way or not?
“For me, I find it very difficult to give penalties against people if there’s no deliberate act.
“His arm is not in a crazy position, it’s fairly natural when you slide in and I think the referee on that occasion made the right call.”
McFadden disagreed with Stewart.
He said: “It doesn’t have to be deliberate. It’s an easier one to give than not give.
“He’s not supporting his body, it’s not on the ground.
“If there was a supporting hand down, it’s not a penalty but because of that motion, it’s impossible to tell whether he’s putting to towards [the ball] or trying to get out of the way.
“Either way, it hits his hand and I think [Ross County] are fortunate.”
Obvious penalty
As McFadden says, it doesn’t have to be a deliberate handball for it to be a handball.
Purrington deliberately put his body into that position and his arm stopped a cross from going into a dangerous area in the box.
It was a penalty.
We’re glad that Sportscene actually covered this because almost all of the coverage about Rangers versus Ross County has been about the fact James Sands avoided being sent off for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity at 0-0.
But not many have spoken about how this penalty incident and how Robertson clearly failed to spot the handball.
If VAR was in operation, that would have no doubt been looked at very closely and the on-field referee would have more than likely had to have had a look at the pitchside monitor to review his decision.
It’s no surprise that Stewart said it wasn’t a penalty though.
Purrington could have picked the ball up with both hands and dribbled it around like a basketball before Stewart started to sit on the fence about it.
In other Rangers news, the club wants to sign this multi-million player after a £16.9million development this week.