Neil McCann outraged by contentious penalty in Rangers Scottish Cup tie v Partick Thistle
BBC Sportscene pundit Neil McCann believes the decision to award Partick Thistle a penalty for a Rangers handball was “ridiculous” during the highly contentious fifth-round Scottish Cup tie.
The Championship side took an early lead against Michael Beale’s men at Ibrox when the ball struck Antonio Colak’s arm from close range, and Kevin Holt subsequently netted from 12 yards out.
After referee David Munro initially didn’t give the decision, a VAR check promoted the whistler to point the spot, and pundit McCann was left scratching his head at the deciphering of the law when providing analysis of the game on Sportscene (Sunday 12 February, 18:00).
He said: “Every time I see it. I shake my head because, I mean, it’s an involuntary reaction, and it’s never in its life a penalty kick.
“David Munro goes over to have a look at it and decides yeh it is. I don’t care what the law is. Colak’s on the way down he’s not even facing in that direction, the header comes off from Kevin Holt, and he can do nothing about it.
“It’s then given, and there’s big pressure on Kevin, but I know what he’s like, and he’s very good from the penalty spot, and he strokes it away, but it shouldn’t have been given, and it is something we really need to find out from referees what’s going through their mind and why they have given these decisions.
“It’s getting ridiculous.”
Clarity needed
The contentious decision-making in Scottish football continued to rumble on in the Scottish Cup on Sunday, and the decision to award a penalty for Partick Thistle was quite simply a farce.
How Colak is expected to even know where the ball is heading is impossible, as his back is turned to the initial header that takes place in the Gers box. His arms were always going to be a danger of being hit from such close range, and it was inevitable in the end that the spot-kick would be given.
It seems to be a weekly occurrence that decisions of this nature are awarded in the Scottish Premier League, and the governing bodies really need to clear up the situation regarding handballs in the area.
Players from sides around the country would probably have different opinions on whether this particular case was a penalty, and this ambiguity isn’t doing the game any good whatsoever.
In other Rangers news, the Ibrox bank is set for a cash boost after a document emerged on Wednesday.