Michael Stewart admits he was surprised VAR didn’t take a further look at a penalty claim involving Rangers striker Cyriel Dessers in the Premier Sports Cup clash against Dundee.
Rangers led in the first-half thanks to the Nigerian striker’s well-taken finish and he felt he should have been given a chance from 12 yards to make it 2-0 just before the interval.
Dessers clearly had two arms wrapped around him by Dundee midfielder Mo Sylla at a corner and was pulled to the ground inside the penalty area.
Referee Chris Graham was looking straight at the incident but decided against any on-field action. The tackle wasn’t taken any further by VAR and Premier Sports pundit Michael Stewart thinks Dundee were very lucky.
Stewart on Rangers penalty incident
Speaking live on Premier Sports co-commentary duty, Stewart said: “He’s not happy, the big striker. You can see there, Sylla has his two arms wrapped around the striker.
“Dessers has now been spoken to, referee Chris Graham doesn’t seem happy with the striker. You can understand why Dessers is not happy there.
“Sylla has both of his arms wrapped around him and I am surprised it has not been looked at. It looks as if the referee is looking right at it as well. Dessers is trying to move and shift. Fortunate. I don’t see how it wouldn’t be (a penalty) really.”
Marvin Bartley dismisses Rangers penalty claim
But his co-pundit Marvin Bartley addressed the incident at the interval and took a completely different viewpoint.
Bartley said: “Not for me. Sylla has probably been a bit silly in terms of his arms wrapped around him. But I was speaking to Alan Hutton off air, he’s more guiding Dessers than pulling him.
“If you watch, Dessers is intelligent in what he does, he tries to pull away and falls into him. Sylla isn’t pulling him in there. I don’t think there’s enough contact to give a penalty kick there.”
