Rangers boss Danny Rohl furious after stoppage-time VAR controversy
, updated
By KEVIN MCKENNA
Danny Rohl was furious with the match officials after claiming Rangers were denied a ‘clear foul’ on the edge of the Livingston box in the dying seconds of a 2-2 draw with the Premiership’s bottom side.
The Ibrox side had fought back from two goals down and were chasing a stoppage-time winner against 10-man Livi when Mikey Moore was on the receiving end of a crunching tackle from Cammy Kerr as he was about to shoot.
Moore thought he’d won a penalty but referee Ryan Lee waved play on, before VAR confirmed the contact had come just outside the penalty area following a lengthy check.
Rangers boss Rohl wasn’t convinced by the decision as he reflected on a missed opportunity to keep up the pressure on league leaders Hearts. ‘For me, it’s a clear foul,’ he said. ‘I think it’s on the line. And then it’s two decisions. If it’s outside, it’s a red card and a free kick. If it’s inside, then it’s a penalty and a yellow card.
‘I think there’s no (contact) on the ball, the contact goes to the man. I think those are crucial moments in this (title) race as well.’
Asked if he was surprised the referee wasn’t asked to look at the pitch-side monitor, he said: ‘Yeah, of course. The first thing is, when they checked over two or three minutes, there must be something. And then I was surprised that the ref did not watch it back. Maybe he has an explanation. I don’t have this but, finally, again, we have 100 minutes to decide this game earlier.’
Brooklyn Kabongolo had volleyed Livi in front after 14 minutes before Lewis Smith doubled their lead early in the second half.
Cristian Montano’s sending off on the hour mark for denying Djeidi Gassama a goalscoring opportunity changed the complexion of the game, with Emmanuel Fernandez pulling one back for Rangers in the 81st minute and Moore equalising in the 88th.
Rohl, whose team are four points behind Hearts and two ahead of Celtic, who were beaten 2-1 at home by Hibs, was frustrated by the result but backed his players to bounce back in Sunday’s crucial Old Firm derby at Ibrox.
‘It’s hard at 2-0 down to come back,’ he said. ‘It showed big character in the group. I put three centre-forwards on the pitch. I took the centre-back out and we played with three in the last line. We tried, we tried, we tried.
‘My job is to lift them and to give them a clear picture now. As it is, we’ve come from six points to three, from five points to two, and now we are four (behind) and can maybe get to one.
‘We have to make it step by step. There’s 10 games to go and it’s a tough race. But I see footballers really ready for this, even though we dropped two points today. We’ll go again and again.
‘Today, the story of the game is not happy, but it shows we can come back. That’s two times in a row now we’ve come back and taken something positive.
‘But it’s not more than that, it doesn’t make it much better than it is. We’ve dropped two points in a game we wanted to win. We have to win here.’
Livingston are still searching for a first victory since defeating Falkirk 3-1 in early August, but boss Marvin Bartley insisted their performance against Rangers strengthened his belief they can yet pull off a great escape.
‘It’s a good point,’ he said. ‘Yes, we’re 2-0 up but we go down to 10 men. If you’d offered me a point before the game, I’d have bitten your hand off.
‘We dealt with a lot of balls coming into the box, blocked everything we could. There were a few scrambles around our goal line but, when they got through, Jerome (Prior) was there. Whether it comes down to the last day of the season, this team will survive and stay in the top flight. I’m really sure of that.’
