Michael Stewart asks 'spirit of the game' question after Rangers incident as VAR rule sparks outrage
Rangers substitute Bojan Miovski thought he’d ended his goal drought against Aberdeen before VAR intervened.
Former Hearts and Manchester United man, Michael Stewart thinks Rangers can count themselves unlucky to have had a goal chalked off in their 4-1 victory over Aberdeen at Ibrox.
While the hosts emerged comfortable victors in the end, every goal is worth its weight in gold at this stage of the title race as goal difference could easily be a deciding factor come May. The Light Blues currently sit three points behind league leaders Hearts and two clear of Celtic below them.
Former Aberdeen man, Bojan Miovski smashed the ball passed Dimitar Mitov in the Aberdeen goal in the dying minutes to put the Light Blues out of sight but VAR Steven McLean spotted a handball by Connor Barron in the build-up. Despite there being a significant amount of time between handball and goal, referee Matthew MacDermid changed his on-field decision. Rangers were, however, given some reprieve minutes later when James Tavernier’s free kick increased their advantage.
Rangers disallowed goal not in ‘spirit of the game’ - Stewart
Speaking on The Scottish Football Social Club podcast, Stewart gave his reasoning as to why disallowing the goal was harsh. He said: “I’ve got a great deal of sympathy with the attacking side when a goal gets chalked off, but it does almost feel like convention that it is. I do feel that there is a difference between in the box – having a penalty given against you like that – and just being penalised for gaining possession and starting an attack.
“I remember it happening at the time and thinking that the referee would never have seen it. Then the goal happened, and I was thinking to myself, ‘where’s it hit a hand?’ because it was that far back, that I had forgotten that it was the turnover of possession. It’s not the best example of it, but it does feed into the whole narrative of microscopically looking at things to chalk goals off and send players off, and I don’t feel that is in the spirit of the game.”
Why was Bojan Miovski’s goal disallowed?
Tochi Chukwuani, Mikey Moore and Nico Raskin helped Rangers to a 3-1 lead before Miovski thought he put the final nail in his old side’s coffin with his left footed effort from just inside box. But after a lengthy review, fellow former Don Barron was adjudged by VAR to have handled the ball in the build-up as MacDermid was sent to the monitor. The referee ultimately disallowed the goal despite there being 18 seconds between the handball and Miovski firing into the roof of the net. Furthermore, in between play, Aberdeen had touched the ball twice but weren’t able to clear.
The handball ruling, particularly when it leads to a goal has been a notable grey area in the Scottish Premiership for the entirety of this season. In September, Lawrence Shankland opened the scoring for Hearts at Ibrox in a 2-0 Jambos victory despite the ball striking his arm in the build-up. While Head of Refereeing Operations, Willie Collum admitted the officiating team on that day got the decision wrong, the subjective nature of the ‘attacking phase of play’ ruling means it continues to divide opinion.