Ex-SFA officials react to James Sands footage in Rangers win v Ross County as controversy emerges
Former SFA referees Des Roache and Steve Conroy are baffled by Don Robertson’s failure to show Rangers defender James Sands a red card in the 4-0 win over Ross County on Sunday.
While the score was still 0-0 in the first half, 22-year-old Sands was booked for a cyinical foul on Jordy Hiwula but wasn’t sent off for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity as Connor Goldson was covering him.
Not long after, almost an identical incident happened but Goldson wasn’t anywhere near the play and Hiwula had a clear run at goal.
However, Robertson didn’t even blow up for a foul, let alone show a second booking or brandish a red card to Sands for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.
As quoted on the Get Involved Referee! podcast on Saturday night (28 August), Roache explained why it should have been a straight red for the USA international.
“It’s a red card and ordering off for me [for] denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity,” said Roache, as quoted by the podcast’s Twitter account.
“Player pulls opponent to the ground with clear space behind him and goalkeeper.
“Not saying he will score but he has clearly been denied the opportunity to have a shot at goal. In my opinion.”
Conroy took to his personal Twitter account to reply.
The former SFA referee said: “Sadly, [on] this occasion, I agree with Des.
“In my opinion, it was a straight red card for denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s me or Messi, it’s the clear opportunity that counts.
“At the very, very least, it’s a second yellow.”
Game-changing?
Sands should have been sent off.
No one complained about his first booking so his second foul on Hiwula should have at least been another one.
We’re not sure what Robertson saw to not at least blow up for a foul but that’s just the standard of refereeing in Scotland.
We’re big enough to admit that we get some dodgy decisions in our favour every now and then – decisions that every fan at every club would go crazy about if they went against them.
While VAR should fix a lot of problems, should we have faith in referees like Robertson and Willie Collum being able to get the big calls right even when they have video replays right in front of them?
We don’t – they’re hopeless.
The SFA and SPFL have a lot of issues with the way their contests are officiated and Rangers have made this clear in the past but were laughed at by rivals.
Rangers are the ones who held talks after complaining about Kevin Clancy [BBC Sport] but fans of other teams are more than happy to say that we get the decisions in our favour all the time.
When will Scottish football learn to work together?
In other Rangers news, Michael Stewart clashed with a fellow BBC pundit over another incident in the win over Ross County.