Rangers v St Mirren: BBC pundit reacts to ‘Real Blunder’ in shock Ibrox defeat
Jack Butland spared his own blushes in a desperately poor moment during Rangers’ shock 2-0 defeat against St Mirren in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday.
Having seen Celtic surprisingly defeated at Hibernian earlier in the day, Philippe Clement‘s side were aiming to cut the gap in the Scottish Premiership at Ibrox on Saturday.
However, Rangers put in another poor performance on home turf as second-half goals from Mikael Mandron and Toyosi Olusanya consigned Rangers to defeat.
Butland was excellent for Rangers in his debut campaign but has had a series of mishaps this time around and almost had another in an unwanted howler reel against St Mirren.
Ian McCall can’t believe what Butland did for Rangers
The nine-cap England international was trying to play out from the back when he played an awful wayward pass to St Mirren forward Mikael Mandron, who ought to have punished Rangers.
Thankfully for Butland, he made immediate amends to deny Mandron and the follow-up was blazed over the crossbar.
But it was a real puff-of-the-cheeks moment for Butland and indeed the watching Ibrox faithful in a moment the goalkeeper really should have been punished for before Rangers collapsed against St Mirren in the second half.
Speaking on BBC Sportsound on Radio Scotland, commentator Kheredine Idessane said: “That’s terrible, the shot comes in from St Mirren, it’s saved by the goalkeeper, the rebound’s blasted over the top by St Mirren. There is no offside flag, what a chance that was. A real blunder by the goalkeeper, great save though to recover.
Pundit Ian McCall replied: “It was, he’s getting a pat on the back for the save, but he’s basically to the right of his goal and passed it straight to Mandron, 18 yards out, I think Mandron’s got to score.”
Butland needs to rediscover Rangers form
Butland kept 18 clean sheets and conceded only 31 goals in an excellent debut Scottish Premiership campaign.
But he has struggled to maintain those same standards this season and he was extremely fortunate not to have another blooper on his resume here.
As it turns out, Rangers conspired to put in an awful performance anyway and really crank up the pressure on beleaguered boss Clement once again.
There are plenty in this team who need to stand up and be counted but Butland, as one of the elder statesmen, really needs to.
While, the keeper cannot be blamed for all of Rangers’ woes he is certainly not devoid of criticism and he, like everyone else, simply has to stand up and be counted.
What is happening right now is simply unacceptable and Clement could well up paying the price at Ibrox.