Tam McManus rages over SFA officials after Rangers scenes vs Livingston: ‘What is going on?’
Tam McManus was left astounded by the penalty controversy that Rangers benefited from in their 2-1 win over Livingston on Saturday.
Emmanuel Fernandez scored a brilliant header to give Rangers the lead, before Tete Yengi equalised for the away side.
With the scores tied at 1-1, Fernandez appeared to handle the ball from a Yengi shot, and referee Ross Hardie failed to award a penalty, which left Michael Stewart furious with the incident after the match.
Mohamed Diomande went on to score the winner for the Bears, and Livingston boss David Martindale was far from happy at the full-time whistle.
Player-turned-pundit McManus also believes Rangers were incredibly lucky not to give away a penalty for Fernandez’s handball.
Tam McManus slams referee Ross Hardie after controversial incident
Rangers’ 2-1 win against Livingston marks four league wins in a row under Danny Rohl, and they are currently sitting nine points behind league leaders Hearts in fourth place.
McManus echoed the thoughts of every pundit and took to X to voice his opinion on the standard of refereeing in Scotland at the moment.
He said: “As clear a penalty as you will ever see. Surely impossible to get that wrong. What is going on with our officials?”
| Rangers | Stat | Livingston |
| 73% | Possession | 27% |
| 1.38 | Expected goals (xG) | 1.52 |
| 9 | Shots | 9 |
| 86% | Pass accuracy | 62% |
| 56% | Ground duels won | 44% |
Rangers were on the wrong side of refereeing injustice when Lawrence Shankland handled the ball in the build-up to his opening goal at Ibrox in Hearts’ 2-0 win on 13 September.
It’s clear that VAR has brought a new set of issues to the Scottish game, and there is no consistency to refereeing decisions at all at the moment.
Every team has been on the wrong side of a shocking call this season, and although Gers fans will be happy, they can comfortably recognise that they were fortunate.
Of course, getting the victory is the most important thing, but the performance against Livingston was incredibly poor.
Danny Rohl recognises Rangers must improve their performances
The Bears had to count on luck in more ways than one, and they have Jack Butland to thank for that.
He made a fantastic one-on-one save to deny Yengi, and he has kept the Bears in several matches this season already.
Rangers dominated large periods of the game, but they failed to create many clear-cut chances against the 12th-placed visitors.
A title charge isn’t too far from reality, and it’s clear that Rohl is still figuring out which players he can trust in the starting eleven.
The German head coach admitted after the match that things must improve, but, there is little room for complaints after another three points were secured.
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