Dermot Gallagher shares verdict on controversy in Rangers win v Kilmarnock live on Sky Sports
Ex-FIFA referee Dermot Gallagher has admitted that he feels Rangers should not have been awarded a penalty in their 3-1 win over Kilmarnock (4 March).
The Gers bounced back from their Viaplay Cup final defeat v Celtic with a strong display at Ibrox, with goals from Connor Goldson, Fashion Sakala and James Tavernier from the spot.
But the decision to hand Rangers a penalty for handball after a prolonged review by VAR has drawn big criticism from many, and Gallagher admitted that he was “surprised” to see referee Willie Collum give a penalty while live on Sky Sports (6 March).
“Well the referee clearly can’t see where it’s struck him, there’s no doubt about that,” he said. “Only the VAR can when it shows it from behind the goal.
“My only surprise is when the referee sees this, I just don’t know where it hits him on the hand.
“That was my surprise. I wasn’t surprised he was sent to the screen because he couldn’t possibly see anything. When he goes to the screen he retains all options, he doesn’t have to give a penalty like people think.
“It does [hit his chest], yeah.”
Stephen Warnock then added his opinion, and admitted it was “bizarre” to see the decision made.
“Absolutely not. How you come to that decision when it’s pretty much clear to everyone that it’s struck him on the chest.
“Obviously you see the Rangers player asking, saying it’s handball, so it is going to be reviewed. But then to look at it and [give it], it’s bizarre isn’t it.”
Odd
Rangers got lucky with this one, that’s fair to say, with the footage quite clearly showing that the ball hit the defender on the chest.
But this isn’t about Rangers getting decisions, it’s once again about officials being awful at their jobs and not being held accountable for it.
The referees in this league are constantly making bad decisions and it always seems to be Rangers who are the ones that get criticised for getting these calls, rather than the officials for actually making them.
It’s not our fault that they get things wrong, and it’s not our fault that we’re one of the better teams in the league which means we’re usually on the front foot in games and create more chances for those moments.
We have to just get on with our game and if the referees are going to keep making mistakes in our favour, there isn’t much we can do. It’s on the FA to get their officials up to scratch.
In other Rangers news, summer signing to be axed in our predicted XI for the clash v Hibernian this week.