James Tavernier saved Jack Butland from Rangers red card vs Kilmarnock says ex-referee
Jack Butland was rightly not sent off for a controversial incident in Rangers’ victory at Kilmarnock, according to Dermot Gallagher.
Rangers beat Kilmarnock 3-0 on Saturday night to get back to winning ways after a pair of disappointing draws.
Bojan Miovski scored a brace at Rugby Park, with Mikey Moore adding a third, while Stuart Kettlewell was shown a red card for protesting Kevin Clancy’s decisions against Rangers.
The Killie boss had already been dismissed when the referee was given a decision to make over Butland for a collision with Bruce Anderson, which Chris Sutton thought was worth a red.
Dermot Gallagher backs Jack Butland booking only
At 2-0 Connor Barron played a loose back-pass towards his own goal and Butland sprinted out of his area to clear from the onrushing Anderson.
The forward got to the ball just ahead of Rangers keeper and got a touch, but the ex-England international blocked it away before the follow-through took out his opponent.
Clancy opted only to show the yellow card, which former Premier League official Gallagher agreed with on Sky Sports Ref Watch, citing the presence of captain Tavernier as the covering defender.
Gallagher, looking at footage of the incident, said: “I don’t think it’s a red card Hayley [McQueen]. I think Tavernier gets round the back. If you watch, this is where the forward nicks the ball, there’s Tavernier going round the back.
“The ball was gonna go wide to the left so I think not a red card, for me.”
Former striker Jay Bothroyd hardly seemed bothered, adding after a long pause: “The thing that stands out in my mind is we’ve seen decisions like this in the Premier League, I know it’s a different league so let’s just bear that in mind, where the goalkeeper touches the ball but it’s a follow-through onto the player, technically it’s not a foul, right?
“Technically it’s not a foul, because we’ve seen it happen with the [Viktor] Gyokeres situation, with the [Bukayo] Saka situation. Obviously, yes this is a different scenario and it’s a different league but the principle is still the same.”
“But not a red card,” Gallagher replied.
“Okay,” Bothroyd then said with a laugh.
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Wilfried Nancy opens Celtic door to Rangers
Rohl badly needed a result like this one after a dismal stalemate with Falkirk followed by more dropped points against Dundee United.
The disruption at Celtic as Brendan Rodgers left under a cloud appeared to have been short-lived as Martin O’Neill steadied the ship, but the appointment of Wilfried Nancy at Parkhead saw them slip up immediately to lose against league leaders Hearts on Sunday.
A comfortable Rangers victory, not least with a pair of goals from one of his strikers in Miovski, was welcome.
And there may just be an opportunity to take advantage of yet on the other side of the Old Firm, although the Light Blues will have to show far more consistency to actually press it home, let alone think about the top of the table when Hearts are still there.
Overall it was an extremely positive weekend for the Gers, but losing Butland to a suspension would have dampened that significantly.
As it was, the incident with Anderson looked a painful one but a red card would probably have been harsh since Tavernier was the last man, not Butland, and the speed of the challenge was reckless without being violent.
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