Peter Grant delivers scathing John Lundstram verdict in Rangers loss v Celtic

Peter Grant slammed John Lundstram for his "horrendous" challenge that cost Rangers in their Old Firm defeat to Celtic.

The midfielder lunged in on Alistair Johnston late in the first half of Saturday's contest at Parkhead and earned himself a straight red card.

Lundstram's moment of madness came shortly after the Gers had reduced the deficit to 2-1, which is the way the game ultimately ended.

Reviewing the incident on BBC Sportscene [11 May, 23m 53s], Grant said: "At the time I thought he got the ball.

"Even then he's lunging in and under pressure, so he's going to get at least a yellow. But he's off the ground and when you see it on VAR you see it's horrendous."

John Lundstram should be ashamed for Celtic performance

The own goal was hugely disappointing, and certainly avoidable, but these things can happen in football.

There is absolutely no excuse for the challenge on Lundstram, though, as he went in strongly on his opponent and in a reckless manner.

Gers fans would have loved the passion shown in real time, but replays - which admittedly tend to make things look worse - did not help him.

Kenny Miller was adamant it was not a red card on commentary duty for Sky Sports, but otherwise the general consensus was it was a red card.

There is no knowing what would have happened had Rangers had 11 players on the field in the second period.

The game could have finished 4-1 for all we know. But Lundstram's terrible tackle ultimately ensured a comeback was ten times harder.

That is now likely it for both the Gers' title hopes and Lundstram's Ibrox career.

In other Rangers news, an "issue" raised by Chris Sutton ahead of kick-off ultimately did not matter.

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