BBC journalist Tom English reacts to controversy in Rangers v Partick Thistle
Tom English has praised Rangers manager Michael Beale for asking his players to allow a goal being scored against them by Partick Thistle.
At Ibrox on Sunday, 12 February, Malik Tillman scored a controversial goal with the visitors arguing that they were anyway going to play the ball back to Gers before the 20-year-old went on to score.
Beale then asked the goal to be given back to Thistle which made it 2-2 at time but they eventually did go on to win the game by a 3-2 scoreline.
Via Twitter, BBC’s English wrote, “Just watched ‘the goal’ at Ibrox. Touch of class from Michael Beale there.”
Hard to argue
Tillman’s unfairly being criticised for scoring and he just did what he felt was right in the heat of the moment.
Once he reviews the situation in his hed and takes into account the situation of the game, he probably would not have done it.
We saw Marcelo Bielsa doing something similar at Leeds when they scored against Aston Villa in the EFL Championship.
He even won the FIFA Fairplay Award for it and we’re delighted that Beale asked his players to do the right thing as they did not deserve the Tillman goal.
It was good to see Gers scoring another late goal to secure the victory but there was another eye-raising moment in the aftermath of the game.
Thistle, despite a spirited performance against the SPFL title challengers, went on to sack manager Ian McCall, along with coaches Alan Archibald and Neil Scally, which is baffling considering how competitive they were on Sunday.
In other Rangers news, the club have been handed a potential transfer boost as a World Cup striker linked with an Ibrox switch is likely to be available in the summer.