Rangers penalty labelled 'embarrassing' as VAR decision against Celtic is met with loaded 'cheating' claim

Chris Sutton has labelled referee John Beaton as ‘embarrassing’ after his decision to award a penalty to Rangers in Sunday’s dramatic Old Firm derby with Celtic.

The reigning Premiership champions looked set to take a major step towards retaining their title after taking a two-goal lead into half-time thanks to an early strike from Daizen Maeda and a penalty from Danish international Matt O’Riley.

However, Rangers were handed a route back into the game when Beaton awarded a penalty ten minutes into the second-half after initially showing a yellow card to Fabio Silva for simulation.

The on-field official was called to the pitchside monitor for a VAR review of the decision and Beaton opted to award a spot kick after deciding Alistair Johnston had made contact with the Portuguese forward. The decision brought a furious response from Sutton, who also accused on-loan Wolverhampton Wanderers star Silva of cheating.

Speaking on Sky Sports coverage of the game, the outspoken former Hoops star said: “This would be embarrassing if they awarded a penalty. He is already on his way down and you shouldn’t be awarded for cheating. It has to be sufficient contact, a clear and obvious error, of course it isn’t.

“The more you watch it the more you see he has dived. It’s an embarrassing climbdown from John Beaton it really is.”

James Tavernier converted the penalty and kickstarted what seemed to be a successful comeback for his side with a neat finish beyond Joe Hart. Rangers grabbed an equaliser and looked to have snatched a point when Abdallah Sima netted four minutes from time - but Celtic got back in front thanks to an Adam Idah goal less than 60 seconds later. However, Rangers battled back to claim a share of the points with a stunning strike from Rabbi Matondo.