George Overhill

Mon 9 January 2023 10:00, UK

Connor Goldson has received a stirring defence from Michael Stewart after the Rangers defender was again scrutinised over a penalty claim.

After a week of fall out from the spot kick that wasn’t given against Celtic for a perceived handball by the centre-back, he was again under the microscope during the 2-0 win at Dundee United on Sunday when a cross hit his arm in the box.

But Stewart was unequivocal in his defence of Goldson, arguing that it was an “impossibility” for him to do anything to avoid the contact and that it would have been “incredibly harsh” to punish him for it.

Speaking live on BBC Sportscene on Sunday (8 January, 40min 30sec) Cammy Bell had said of the incident: “There’s a lot of bodies in there. [Antonio] Colak, it just goes over his head. For me, Connor Goldson is trying to hold off the Dundee United player. It hits his arm, you can see that clearly, but I don’t think there’s any motion in his arm.”

A laughing Jonathan Sutherland suggested: “It’s a little bit outstretched?”

But Bell was unmoved: “You could say that, but there’s so many bodies in there in front of him to see it. I think that would be a really harsh penalty to give.”

Stewart then weighed in: “It’s not a penalty kick. We’ve got to the stage where I feel like we’re looking to punish players for doing nothing wrong. 

“As Cammy says, look at the amount of bodies that are in front of Connor Goldson there. He has got no way of knowing that that ball’s going to come anywhere near him. His arm is in a completely normal position playing football. 

“If you give a penalty kick for that I just think it’s incredibly harsh. 

“Here’s another thing. That’s come in from a corner, he’s probably got 10 bodies in front of him, he’s got a millisecond to react if you’re saying he’s got to get his arm out of the way. Because he doesn’t put it in the way, it’s already there. 

“Tennis right? When they serve, it goes so fast… This is an important point. You’re eye cannot track the ball, your brain’s predicting where it’s going to go. 

“You’ve got a ball that’s probably a couple of feet when it goes past the player, there’s no way Connor Goldson can be able to react to get his arm out the way, it’s impossible. 

“So you can’t punish him for when his arm’s already in position and the ball hits it. It’s an impossibility for him to get his arm out the way.”

Stewart support

Nobody is going to accuse Stewart of pro-Rangers bias any time soon so it is clear that there wasn’t much to this one, and were it not for the protests that rumbled on in the wake of the Old Firm derby it might not have gained the attention it did at the weekend.

Since the mid-season introduction of VAR in Scotland any contested decision is going to receive even greater scrutiny than before.

The problem with the system is that it is widely expected to give officials the ability to reach the ‘correct’ decision every time, even if that means reassessing their own snap ruling on judgment calls.

But, as has been seen in other leagues already, the system is only allowed to correct major errors, and given that there is a football-wide reluctance to second guess the on-pitch referee, even then the video assistant often hangs back.

Rangers players will be in the spotlight for weeks now because of the outcry from the Celtic clash, but within the guidelines of how VAR is to be used there wasn’t really a question to be answered last week, and certainly not at Tannadice, however frustrating that may be.

Colak could have been given a penalty for an obvious shirt pull in the first half himself, but that hasn’t been given as much focus, yet it seems refereeing will be at the top of the agenda for the foreseeable future in the SPFL.

In other Rangers news, one Sky Sports pundit has hit back at Ange Postecoglou and Chris Sutton over Old Firm derby complaints.