BBC pundit Mark Wilson shares ‘concerning’ incident spotted in Rangers win v Livingston
Mark Wilson says it is “concerning” the match officials allowed the goal scored by Rangers forward Abdallah Sima against Livingston to stand.
Sima produced a fine finish to give the Gers a 10th-minute lead at Ibrox en route to an eventual 4-0 victory in the Scottish League Cup quarter-final on Wednesday [27 September].
The Senegal international appeared to push Jamie Brandon, but Willie Collum allowed play to continue and Sima converted from a tight angle.
However, former Celtic player Wilson cannot believe a free-kick was not awarded to Livingston.
“I don’t think you’ll find many people out there who think it wasn’t a free-kick,” he said on Clyde 1 Superscoreboard [28 September].
“It’s as clear as you could see. It’s concerning that something as obvious as that isn’t picked up with the amount of officials on the field.”
On the right end
In fairness, Sima did quite clearly nudge Brandon out on the left-hand side before bringing the ball inside and firing past Shamal George.
The question is whether the contact was firm enough for the Livi player to go to ground? Again, probably yes.
Similar decisions have gone against the Gers this season, not least in the 1-0 derby defeat to Celtic when Kemar Roofe had a goal disallowed.
On that occasion, Cyriel Dessers was penalised for outmuscling Celtic defender Gustaf Lagerbielke prior to playing in Roofe to blast home.
The goal against Livingston came at an important time, too, as it gave the Gers an early platform to build on in what was a routine win in the end.
With that victory, Michael Beale’s job is safe for at least another few days, so he will certainly not share the same view as Wilson.
In other Rangers news, Chris Sutton has hit out at an “absolutely ridiculous” suggestion regarding a debate involving the Gers and Celtic.