BBC Sportscene show ‘definitive’ new footage of Rangers v Motherwell VAR incident
Rangers were left reeling from yet another home defeat at the weekend as Motherwell held on to take all three points from Ibrox.
Saturday’s 2-1 reverse (1 March) witnessed some interesting incidents to pick apart, not least a disallowed goal for Cyriel Dessers, who briefly thought he had netted a fourth goal in two games under Barry Ferguson.
Having finished well to seemingly make it 2-2 and recover from a second two-goal deficit in a matter of days for Rangers, Dessers was instantly thwarted by the assistant referee’s offside flag.
Bell and Stewart make call on disallowed Dessers strike
Dessers pulled Rangers back into a frustrating affair during the second half at Ibrox after Rangers found themselves stunned by falling two goals behind for a third successive game.
Ferguson made a triple change at the break in a desperate attempt to turn the tide and while Gers dominated after the break and Dessers got his 21st goal of the season nine minutes into the half, he was denied a leveller with 11 minutes to go.
The on-field decision concluded that from the upfield pass of Rangers’ stand-in right-back Ridvan Yilmaz, Danilo’s knee made contact with the ball on its way through to Dessers – by which time his strike partner had strayed into an offside position before finding the net.
Speaking on BBC Sportscene (1 March), Cammy Bell and Michael Stewart appeared to agree the officials’ call was correct, though Stewart claimed it may not have been “obvious” enough.
“If [Danilo] doesn’t touch it and it goes through to Dessers, then he’s onside,” Stewart said.
“This is the definitive [angle] for me, I think you can see it here. It clearly hits off his knee, and there’s a slight change in direction of the ball, as well. So I think they’ve got that one right,” Bell affirmed.
“It would have been interesting if the linesman didn’t put the flag up, what VAR would have done.”
Stewart added: “This falls into the category of decisions of some of the decisions we’ve seen recently.
“I think it does touch his knee, but it’s not obvious. Had the linesman not put his flag up, and the goal had been given and they were looking at it, you’d probably have to stick with the on-field decision.”
Rangers lose three at Ibrox in a row
Following Saturday’s defeat, Rangers have now been beaten at Ibrox three times on the bounce in all competitions.
The Light Blues’ two wins in their last five have each come away from home, including the midweek comeback at Kilmarnock to kick off Ferguson’s reign.
If the opening half-hour at Rugby Park on Wednesday wasn’t an immense wake-up call to the former Gers captain for the job he’s taken on, then Ferguson will certainly be fully alert now.
| Date | Rangers – last five results | Result |
| 1 March | Motherwell (H) | L 1-2 |
| 26 February | Kilmarnock (A) | W 4-2 |
| 22 February | St Mirren (H) | L 0-2 |
| 16 February | Hearts (A) | W 3-1 |
| 9 February | Queen’s Park (H) (Scottish Cup R5) | L 0-1 |
The Rangers manager bemoaned the issues his players have faced while playing at home, though the next league fixture at Ibrox is now over a month away when Hibernian visit.
The Europa League now provides not only an exciting escape from the hair-tearing exploits of Rangers’ league campaign, but also undoubtedly the biggest test of Ferguson’s managerial career against the 21-trophy Jose Mourinho and Fenerbahce.