Rangers: Michael Stewart and Ally McCoist laugh at baffling Fabio Silva failure live vs Hearts
Michael Stewart and Ally McCoist were left bemused as they laughed at Fabio Silva somehow falling over instead of scoring a Rangers tap in when set up by Cyriel Dessers against Hearts.
The two pundits reacted live on the Premier Sports match commentary at Hampden Park (21 April) after the Portuguese appeared to have been handed a late third on a plate in the closing stages of the 2-0 Scottish Cup victory.
Both were surprised that the Nigerian international had passed up the opportunity to score his hat-trick goal but were even more baffled when Silva fell on top of the ball instead of slotting it home from close range, scoffing at footage on the replay.
“I’m not sure what that was”, said commentator Rory Hamilton (4.49pm).
A laughing McCoist responded: “I think it’s just, I’m trying to defend him, it’s just behind him. Dessers does brilliantly, I’ve got to say, he stays onside with his run and he knocks it into a space where he thinks Silva’s got a complete and utter tap-in.
“But I think he’s maybe just ahead of it a little bit and it gets caught underneath his feet, that’s the best I can offer you.”
A similarly-amused Stewart added: “Dessers was incredibly selfless there because he’s got the opportunity of a hat-trick in a semi-final.”
“I can inform you reliably Michael, if I had scored two goals and I got through there I would not be thinking about passing it,” agreed McCoist.
A minute later as they watched a replay of the incident the pair couldn’t contain their laughter, as McCoist admitted: “We shouldn’t.”
Wolves loanee not at his best off the bench for Rangers
Silva isn’t going through the greatest period of his time at Rangers, having been pretty impressive in the early weeks after his January arrival.
As Philippe Clement’s side have lost form in recent weeks his influence off the left flank has faded, after some strong displays as a centre forward during January and February.
He drew a lot of criticism for his theatrical behaviour in the 3-3 draw with Celtic on 7 April, with his penalty award by John Beaton singled out as a controversy.
Having been dropped from the starting line-up by his manager for Rabbi Matondo at Hampden he would have hoped to prove that decision wrong and the late opportunity offered up by Dessers was the ideal chance to do so.
But in a cameo that arguably saw him trying too hard without anything really coming off he fluffed his lines and ended up on the wrong end of the joke.
It is highly unlikely that Rangers could afford to make a permanent move for him, but unless his form picks up again quickly it is unlikely that they will be looking to do so either way.
In other Rangers news, Scottish officials have been slammed as “consistently wrong” by a former Tottenham star live on Sky Sports for what happened in a Light Blues game.
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