Rangers vs Ayr United: Pundit stunned by ‘iron ankles’ Connor Goldson incident
Rangers could have been reduced to nine men in their Scottish Cup victory over Ayr United as two players avoided possible red cards, according to Tam McManus.
Speaking on The Football Show for PLZ Soccer on 12 February the pundit suggested both Connor Goldson and Fabio Silva could have been dismissed, with the former benefiting from the “iron ankles” of Roy Syla, who played on when caught by a first-half lunge, and the latter booked softly by Willie Collum before the break but not for a similar challenge after.
Visiting boss Scott Brown had been unhappy that the official succumbed to the “pressure” at Ibrox, but McManus accepted Philippe Clement’s men would likely have won either way.
McManus said (36m 5s): “I think the Ayr United boy does him a favour. The way he goes in, if you slow it down, if that boy rolls about, I think he’s off.
“He actually played on, the boy must have iron ankles, because it was a straight foot in high and the boy played on, played it wide. And it wasn’t even repeated, it wasn’t shown again in the course of the game. It was only highlighted later on on [BBC] Sportscene. So I think the boy did him a favour.
“Fabio Silva I thought was fortunate, he could have got a second yellow. His first yellow was soft but then he goes and chops the boy later on in the game which could have been a second yellow. And Browny was annoyed because he scored the second goal to clinch the game.
“Listen, I think that Rangers would still win the game with 10 men, they were comfortable, but a couple of decisions just never went Ayr’s way.”
Decisions fall in Rangers favour in Scottish Cup win
Goldson had a weird game in the 2-0 victory, and his slackness could have been punished after he overran the ball high up the pitch in the first half and stretched to rectify the situation.
He probably was lucky, while the Silva situation gained far more attention at the time but was comparatively little.
Only Collum will know but he seemed like he may have unwittingly caused himself a difficult situation by giving a yellow for not much in the Portuguese goalscorer’s case to show he wasn’t shying away from making decisions on Rangers in the wake of the controversy over his role as VAR in the loss at Celtic on 30 December.
In the circumstances Silva took a risk going in for the second challenge after the half, but Collum perhaps realised he had given himself a problem and decided to refrain that time.
Rangers probably would have won either way after Borna Barisic’s early opener, but an upset wasn’t entirely out of the question if the home side had been at a numerical disadvantage with a one goal lead.
Clement will have been pleased to get one step further along the line towards another possible trophy but he won’t have been overly impressed with some of the sloppiness on display from his side as they made it harder work than necessary.
In other Rangers news, a first team player is on his way out of Ibrox as the “writing’s on the wall” now at Ibrox.
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