BBC Sportscene pundits react to controversial Rangers penalty award vs St Mirren
Kenny Miller and Stuart Kettlewell both agreed that the penalty Rangers won in the win over St Mirren should not have been given by Nick Walsh.
Antonio Colak, scorer of two in the 4-0 victory, went down just before the half-hour after a near-post challenge from visiting defender Declan Gallagher, with captain James Tavernier scoring down the middle to make it 2-0 after the referee had pointed to the spot.
But the two pundits felt that the decision was harsh because the defender had got the ball before the Croatia international.
Speaking live on BBC Sportscene on Saturday night (8 October, 8.06pm) Kettlewell said: “It’s excellent striker play but for me it’s not a penalty. I think the big defender gets a clean enough touch on the ball.
“Maybe the movement from Colak afterwards, to jump up in the air, has maybe sold the referee in this case. But again, you’ve got to call it as it is. It’s not a penalty, it’s good defending.”
Miller added: “I would love to say it’s a stone waller, but I’d have to say big Declan Gallagher’s definitely got the first touch.
“[He] no doubt got the sole of his foot on that ball so it’s a harsh decision. James Tavernier steps up and he maybe gets a wee bit fortunate.”
Lucky
Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men were good value for the win in the end, but had a few instances gone the other way it could have been a more uncomfortable afternoon.
The penalty award certainly helped things along, but Allan McGregor needed to work in the second half to keep his clean sheet.
It seems pretty unlikely that without the penalty the result would have gone the other way, since the performance was reasonably strong overall, but rivals won’t see things like that.
Domestically the officiating doesn’t seem to have been doing the Light Blues too many favours so far this campaign, and it certainly hasn’t in the Champions League, but this one does look fortunate.
The manager got the sort of performance he badly needed after another difficult night in Europe against Liverpool, and kept the pressure on Celtic at the top of the table.
VAR isn’t far away now, which should pick up incorrect decisions, but the precedent set in other leagues suggests the number of arguments will increase if anything when it arrives.
In other Rangers news, Chris Sutton obviously had something to say about the penalty award.