Chris Sutton and Kris Boyd in heated Sky Sports clash after controversial incident in Rangers draw v Aberdeen
Chris Sutton and Kris Boyd clashed over whether Rangers should have been awarded a penalty in their draw with Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Sunday.
With the Dons 1-0 up, Connor Goldson’s shirt was pulled in the box while he attacked a corner, leading to referee Nick Walsh pointing to the spot after a VAR review.
Sutton has thrown doubt over whether it was a penalty because Goldson threw himself down after his shirt was pulled but Boyd argues that it’s a foul regardless of whether he went down or not.
Speaking on Sky Sports Football after the game on Sunday (26 November, 2:10pm), Boyd asked Sutton: “Is he pulling his shirt?”
Sutton said: “There has to be sufficient contact.” Boyd asked the same question again, leading to the same response from Sutton. After asking yet again, the ex-Celtic striker finally says: “Ok, he pulls his shirt…
Boyd then buts in, not interested in anything else Sutton has to say. The ex-Rangers man says: “You can’t pull someone’s shirt in the box.”
Sutton then tries to turn the tables on Boyd, and asks: “Does he dive? You won’t answer that.”
“Does he dive? He pulls his shirt,” a perplexed Boyd replied. “If you get your shirt pulled, you go down. If somebody’s pulling your shirt, they’ve already given the referee a decision to make and that’s it.”
Sutton then called Boyd a “cheat”, leading to the ex-Kilmarnock striker saying that’s another accusation being chucked out by the former Celtic man.”
It’s a penalty
What came first? The shirt pull or the supposed dive?
Goldson’s shirt was pulled before he went down and a shirt pull on any part of the pitch is a foul.
Therefore, what Goldson did after his shirt wasn’t being pulled anymore was irrelevant because he’d already been fouled.
Boyd did make another point that if you’re being pulled back and suddenly let go, there’s a chance that the sudden forward momentum will see you fall over.
That could have also happened to Goldson so it’s impossible to say if he dived or not.
But if he did, he wouldn’t have got the penalty because referees only punish players if they go down to the ground – even when they are actually fouled.
That’s a problem that’s caused by officials within the game.
In other Rangers news, a BBC Sportsound pundit was wowed by a “magnificent” Gers player in the draw at Pittodrie.