Neil Lennon reacts to ‘illegal’ incident in Rangers vs Hearts amid Steven Naismith anger
Neil Lennon has “sympathy” for Steven Naismith over the late penalty for Rangers against Hearts because blocking is “illegal” but players “get away with it all the time”.
The manager expressed solidarity with the Jambos boss on PLZ Soccer’s The Football Show on 30 October, with host Peter Martin saying Naismith was “angry” after his side had lost 2-1 at Ibrox thanks to the 90th-minute spot kick from James Tavernier before the added-time winner.
The Scot had claimed Peter Haring was blocked off by John Lundstram in the box so his shirt pull on Connor Goldson shouldn’t have been penalised, and Lennon agreed it was “soft” but called the grasp of the shirt “blatant”.
Lennon said (2m): “I have a lot of sympathy for Steven on this one because blocking goes on all the time at corners. It is illegal but players get away with it all the time.
“So he is blocking Haring to a certain extent. There is a tug of the shirt, that is blatant, I can see why the referee has given the decision. But it’s soft, there’s no question.
“The other one on [Todd] Cantwell’s a stonewall penalty, I have no issue with that whatsoever. But I can understand Steven’s frustration, but I can see it from the other side as well why it was given.”
Painful
The shirt pull had already started before Haring came into contact with Lundstram, with any blocking ultimately serving to illuminate the fact he had a fist full.
Were it not for the fact that Rangers had strained without much joy to come back from Lawrence Shankland’s early opener for 85 minutes before getting a gift at the death then it might not have infuriated Naismith so much.
But with the home side well short of their best it would have been a sickener for the visitors to somehow throw away three points and leave with nothing with such a late turnaround.
Those who are enraged by the penalty to Rangers trope would have no doubt thought it typical that Philippe Clement’s side got one at the end of each half on Sunday (29 October), but the general consensus is both should have been given.
It let the Light Blues out of jail on a day when they badly underperformed, but Clement was delighted afterwards with the belief his players showed to narrow the gap on Celtic to five points.
He will know they have to improve hugely going forward though if they hope to close it any further, and cannot hope to be handed a late lifeline every time.
In other Rangers news, the club now “will have to” sign yet another striker in January according to Jonny McFarlane who named one who has put himself in the frame.