Jo Potter caught in Old Firm controversy for Rangers Women v Celtic
Jo Potter was shown a bizarre red card as Rangers beat Celtic 2-1 in their Sky Sports Cup semi-final clash on Sunday.
BBC ALBA posted a clip on X (19 January) of the incident which saw referee Abbie Hendry brandish a straight red in Potter’s direction, adjudicating that she had been “holding up play” on the touchline.
Potter had been talking to the fourth official as Lizzie Arnot prepared to take a throw-in, and after speaking briefly to the winger, the Light Blues boss was stunned to see she’d been sent off.
Rangers Women will want answers after Jo Potter controversy
Coming away victorious in a hotly-contested Old Firm match is hard enough to do at any level, let alone having to do so for the final 40 or so minutes without your manager on the touchline.
Potter’s bewilderment at her straight red card is completely understandable, given Gers were preparing to take their throw-in near the halfway line, and Arnot was hardly lining up an attacking set-piece.
Plenty of throw-in routines, including the long launches from James Tavernier, take much longer than Arnot’s looked set to on Sunday, making Hendry’s decision all the more baffling.
With the Light Blues already 2-0 up at the point of Potter’s dismissal thanks to quick-fire goals from Rio Hardy and top scorer Katie Wilkinson at the start of the second half, they were able to see the game out.
Contentious refereeing in high-stakes games between the two Glasgow giants is nothing new – see the League Cup Final in December – but it’s clear that not even off-field staff are safe from such decisions.
In other Rangers news, one of the clubs keen on an in-demand star want to take him from Ibrox without paying a transfer fee.
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