Dermot Gallagher accuses Rangers of being ‘lucky’ in footage shared by Sky Sports
Dermot Gallagher insists Rangers were “lucky” to not concede a penalty in their 2-0 win at Motherwell on Sunday (24 December).
The Gers claimed all three points at Fir Park thanks to early goals from Kieran Dowell and Todd Cantwell.
However, the home side had a couple of penalty appeals rejected, including one for Cyriel Dessers’ pull on Mika Biereth.
Former FIFA and English Premier League referee Gallagher gave his thoughts on the incident in footage shared by Sky Sports on Twitter [26 December].
“How lucky can you get? Dessers clearly pulls him back, but it doesn’t get picked up by the referee and doesn’t get recommended by the VAR,” Gallagher said.
“It’s surprising because it’s Scotland, and all of these have been given of late.”
Comfortable win
Dessers did pull back on Biereth and can therefore consider himself somewhat fortunate to have escaped any punishment.
The fact it was seemingly not reviewed by VAR was also surprising, but Biereth did not help himself with the theatrical manner he threw himself to the floor.
Brodie Spencer also felt he should have been awarded a spot-kick after being felled by Ridvan Yilmaz, so Motherwell have grounds to feel aggrieved.
That said, the Gers were as comfortable as you like after racing into a two-goal lead inside 16 minutes, and were good value for their latest win under Philippe Clement.
On a different day, it may well have been that the opposition were awarded a penalty. Dessers therefore must learn his lesson as he cannot afford to even so much as give the referee a decision to make.
In other Rangers news, “problems” have been mooted at Ibrox ahead of the January transfer window.