John Beaton saves the day after ‘unforgivable’ Mohamed Diomande scenes at Rangers – ‘It’s depressing’
Rangers finally benefited massively from VAR during Saturday’s victory over Livingston.
Mohamed Diomande‘s goal saw Rangers beat Livingston 2-1 at Ibrox in the Scottish Premiership after what was a shaky performance from Danny Rohl‘s team.
Emmanuel Fernandez had opened the scoring with a thumping header for the Gers, before Tete Yengi would break beyond the home side’s back-line to equalise.
Nasser Djiga was slammed for his performance against Livingston, with the defender drafted in alongside Fernandez in light of several injury issues for Rangers.
John Souttar and Derek Cornelius picked up injuries on international duty, with both defenders set to be sidelined until at least the end of December.
‘An unforgivable howler of a mistake’
Referee Ross Hardie was slammed for his decisions in Rangers’ win over Livingston, with the official failing to award the away side a penalty in the first half.
The ball had appeared to strike Fernandez’s hand inside the Rangers penalty box in the first half, but complaints were waved away by Hardie and video assistant referee John Beaton.
The decision may well have changed the outcome of the game, with the scores level at the time and the visitors in the ascendancy.
| Rangers | Match stats | Livingston |
| 73% | Possession | 27% |
| 9 | Shots | 9 |
| 2 | Shots on target | 2 |
| 2 | Big chances | 2 |
| 1.38 | Expected goals (xG) | 1.52 |
| 2 | Corners | 1 |
Following the game, Livingston manager David Martindale said: “For the life of me, I don’t understand how it’s not given in our favour”.
Beaton did get involved in the second half, however, when Bojan Miovski had been adjudged to have mis-timed his run in the build-up to Diomande’s winning goal.
The North Macedonia international broke behind the Livingston back-line before poking the ball past the goalkeeper and into the path of the arriving midfielder.
Gary Keown wrote in the Scottish Daily Mail on Monday that linesman Dougie Potter’s decision to put up his flag was “unforgivable”.
“Without Beaton getting involved from the VAR room, it wouldn’t have counted,” the journalist wrote. “An unforgivable howler of a mistake would have cost Rangers the points.
“It’s depressing, really. We’ve seen enough over the past couple of years to have no confidence in VAR working properly because of the people at the controls, but what’s the alternative?
“Going back to putting the whole kit and caboodle back in the hands of the officials sent out there by the SFA, who simply can’t be trusted to get big calls right?”
Danny Rohl was ‘confident’ Rangers winner would count
Replays made it clear that Miovski’s run had been timed to perfection, with three Livingston players playing the forward onside as he ran onto James Tavernier‘s ball.
Speaking after the game, Rohl said, “We attacked the last line and made the run. I saw the full-back was a bit behind and I had a good feeling it wasn’t offside.”
It would not take long for the German’s good feeling to come true for Rangers, who have now won their fourth consecutive Scottish Premiership match since his arrival.
Regardless of performances at this stage, Rohl just has to keep winning.
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