Connor Barron delivers honest assessment of Rangers debut and Hearts handball claim after Tynecastle draw

New Rangers signing Connor Barron admits he was “confident” referee Nick Walsh would not award Hearts a first-half penalty after getting up in a handball flashpoint on the opening day of the new Premiership season.

The Jambos were left furious after being denied a spot-kick when Yan Dhanda’s cross appeared to deflect off Barron’s raised right arm during the goalless draw at Tynecastle. Referee Nick Walsh waved play on and VAR operator Kevin Clancy ruled that there was no infringement as the former Aberdeen midfielder’s arm was close to his body.

The Scottish FA’s new head of refereeing Willie Collum had recently vowed to introduce changes around the handball rule and Barron was left breathing a huge sigh of relief on his first competitive start for the Ibrox side since joining the club earlier this summer.

“I was confident (it wasn’t a penalty),” Barron told Sky Sports in his post-match debrief. “I had them right down down by my side. You never know what can happen, it goes through your head a little bit. But I knew I was safe.”

Barron was one of three new recruits named in Philippe Clement’s first starting XI of the campaign. Assessing his competitive debut in the capital, he said: “We didn’t get the three points, so it wasn’t the perfect day for me. The result wasn’t exactly what we wanted to go out and achieve today, but I thought there was good bits in there that we can look at going forward and bits we need to get better at as well.

“It’s going to be a long season, so it’s about us picking ourselves up after games like this and making sure that we correct things. I think there was chances there for us to win the game, they had chances as well. We just need to be more ruthless in both boxes and that’s something we’ll work on. I enjoyed it (the midfield battle), but I’m not happy right now because we didn’t get the result we wanted.”

Asked if he believes he’s already got a strong understanding with his new teammates amid an influx of new signings this summer, Barron responded: “I think I settled in very quickly. The understanding is there from the players, sometimes it’s just about us all being on the same page when the subs are coming on as well and making sure that we’re doing the same things. You could see at times there were chances right at the end. It’s about us putting them away and being more clinical.”