Andy Walker slams ‘dangerous’ Connor Goldson for ‘reckless’ Rangers incident v Ayr United
Rangers defender Connor Goldson was lucky to not see red for a “dangerous” tackle during the Light Blues’ Scottish Cup clash with Ayr United, according to Andy Walker.
Philippe Clement’s side booked their place in the fifth round with a 2-0 win over Scott Brown’s side on Saturday (10 February) thanks to goals from Borna Barisic and Fabio Silva, but Brown believed the home side should have been reduced to 10 men.
While Sky Sports pundit Walker didn’t think Silva should have been shown a second yellow, he was “surprised” that Goldson wasn’t given his marching orders for a “reckless” challenge that went unpunished by Willie Collum and VAR.
Speaking on The Go Radio Football Show (12 February, 46:40) he said: “The Goldson one could have easily been a red when you’re lunging in the way that he did and you go above the foot or the ankle.
“Reckless would have been a yellow and I think it was more than reckless. I thought it was dangerous and dangerous is a red, I thought it was a red. The thing is VAR is there to look at that, to highlight that and I don’t think any player would be unhappy about that sort of challenge being driven out of the game.
“It’s understandable at the pace of the game that the referee might miss it in real-time, but this is one of the reasons that VAR wasn’t brought in and I’m surprised they didn’t look at that.”
Rangers lucky ‘dangerous’ Connor Goldson avoided red
Whether or not you think Goldson’s slightly risky challenge deserved a red card is open to debate, but is safe to say that is a type of challenge that all football supporters have seen punished before.
A booking would have probably been the fair call, but the fact that the Ayr forward continued his run ensured that the referee didn’t pull play back to punish Goldson as it didn’t have a huge impact on proceedings.
Goldson has been a regular under Clement and has managed to be a consistent presence at the heart of defence, no matter his partner and it would have been a huge blow for Rangers had they had him suspended for any length of time.
They may have got slightly lucky with Saturday’s call but considering some of the other decisions Collum has given against them this season, they are probably due a slice of luck.
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