'No doubt in my mind' - Former Rangers star blasts VAR for lack of intervention in key incident vs St Mirren
Ex midfielder thinks his old side got away with one in Premiership clash
Rangers icon Andy Halliday can ‘forgive’ referee Don Robertson for missing a potential St Mirren penalty in their 1-0 defeat at Ibrox - but is left with ‘no doubt’ that VAR should’ve intervened.
With the scored locked at goalless in the first half, Rangers defender Emmanuel Fernandez looked to have made contact with Buddies winger Ismael Kabia in the box after he’d already offloaded the ball. Despite muted appeals from St Mirren players, replays showed that Fernandez caught the ankle of the Arsenal loanee. However, VAR Steven McLean chose not to intervene as play continued.
In the match itself, forgotten man Bojan Miovski was the hero for the Light Blues as his 90th minute looping effort over Saints goalkeeper gave the hosts what could be a pivotal three points in the context of the season ahead of their Old Firm double header. They didn’t have it all their own way on Wednesday night however, as once again they relied on the goalkeeping heroics of Ivor Pandur, who saved a one-on-one against St Mirren midfielder Fraser Taylor to keep Rangers in the game.
’No doubt’ VAR should’ve intervened - Halliday
Analysing the incident on Sportscene alongside former Rangers and St Mirren striker Stephen Thompson, Halliday reckons Robertson should’ve been sent to the monitor. He said: “Undoubtedly (it’s a penalty kick) for me. I think you can forgive the referee for not seeing it in real time because there wasn’t much of an appeal from the St Mirren players.
“But when you see the replays there, there’s no doubt in my that it’s not Kabia that initiates contact here - it’s Fernandez. You can see that little buckle of his ankle which suggests there definitely has been contact. I forgive referees for not giving that in live scenarios. But VAR has got to pick those scenarios up. For me St Mirren should’ve had a penalty kick.”
McInnes on St Mirren triumph
After the match, the Rangers boss said: “What we needed to do was something like the goal. When the press comes on to them and they start to get a wee bit more aggressive, a wee bit more encouragement that they can upset us, and they go man for man at the back, why not just play forward? We were so… I don’t know if we think we're Rangers and we think we're better than that, and we'll still keep playing our little pretty patterns and we'll try and get out.
“It was annoying me that our reluctance and our failure to play forward was killing us, and bringing unnecessary pressure on ourselves. The goal is an example of bypassing the press, playing up to Ryan Naderi, a flick on, Bojan timing his run and running through, and a brilliant finish nonetheless. Chapman for them was pulling off unbelievable saves, and even with Bojan running through he still got a lot to do, but a top class finish, a moment to savour, and it was no more than the players deserved.”
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