Dermot Gallagher reacts to Rangers controversy in draw v Hearts live on Sky Sports
Rangers should have been awarded a penalty for a foul on Cyriel Dessers during their draw with Hearts at Tynecastle, according to Dermot Gallagher.
Philippe Clement’s side were unable to finish their Scottish Premiership season on a high as they conceded a late goal from Kyosuke Tagawa to draw 3-3 with Hearts on Saturday (18 May).
While the Light Blues were once again their own worst enemy, they felt they deserved a penalty when Frankie Kent appeared to pull Dessers shirt but no spot-kick was given to the frustration of Gallagher.
Speaking on Sky Sports Football (20 May) he said: “I thought it was a foul and I was surprised it wasn’t referred because what you would say about the Scottish Premiership VAR is that handballs and anything like this with shirt pulling they have very, very strong on.
“It’s not so much that he pulls his shirt it’s how far he pulls it so I think penalty.”
Should Rangers and Cyriel Dessers had a penalty in draw against Hearts at Tynecastle?
Rangers can have no complaints with the result following Saturday’s game as they were nowhere near good enough to claim all three points at Tynecastle as they were once again far too weak out of possession.
However, this incident is one of the clearer penalty shouts that the Gers have been involved in this season and it seems absolutely ridiculous that the referee and the VAR didn’t believe it warranted a spot-kick.
Although Gallagher has praised the Scottish officials for their decision-making on similar sorts of incidents this season, this example with Dessers just shows that the overall standard north of the border isn’t good enough.
The conspiracy theorists will suggest that Clement’s side deserve one or two of these decisions to go against them every now and again, but this is a damning indication of just how poor the referees have been this term.
In other Rangers news, Clement has been told to dodge “insanity” at Hampden with a new Dujon Sterling call against Celtic
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