Many Rangers fans might not have heard of Motherwell forward Tawanda Maswanhise before this week’s trip to Fir Park.
But after a stunning showing from the Zimbabwean attacker in the 2-2 draw Rangers fans certainly won’t be forgetting his name for a while, even if they struggle to pronounce it.
Maswanhise set up Australian striker Apostolos Stamatelopoulos for the Steelmen’s controversial opener, Dermot Gallagher explaining why a handball wasn’t given in the build up.
The attacker then reacted quick as a flash in the box to leave James Tavernier for dust and curl the ball past Jack Butland for the Steelmen’s second.
Rangers would eventually fight their way back into the Scottish Premiership clash with a second half double from Hamza Igamane.
But Tawanda Maswanhise reckons that Motherwell should’ve had even more from the game after Jack Butland flapped from a second half corner.
SFA panel respond to Jack Butland VAR call
Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland can consider himself a very lucky boy after VAR bailed the stuttering stopper out at Fir Park.
Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell said he was ‘flabbergasted’ at the decision to rule out the goal come full-time, suggesting goalkeepers are ‘overprotected’.
The ex-Ross County manager was even sent to the stands for remonstrating.
With the score at 2-1 to Motherwell, had the goal been allowed to stand Rangers would’ve faced a huge task to come back into the match and it was a crucial decision on the day.
The SFA have even admitted that Motherwell should’ve been awarded a penalty, as the SFA’s key match incident panel voted 3:2 in favour of the goal.
“The panel discussed this decision at length with the majority (3:2) deeming the onfield decision incorrect,” reads a statement.
“The majority (3:2) believed that VAR should have intervened and recommended an OFR for the goal to be awarded.
“Two members of the panel highlighted that they didn’t think it was clear and obvious enough for VAR to get involved and the on-field decision should be supported.”
It was certainly tight, with the likes of ex-Celtic striker Cillian Sheridan siding with Jack Butland, but Tawanda Maswanhise is convinced Motherwell have been hard done by.
Motherwell star laments ‘shocking’ refereeing
“I hadn’t seen it back, but it did look soft, really soft, so hopefully they can learn from their mistakes with the referees,” said Maswanhise as quoted by Glasgow World.
“It’s shocking from the referees (eight VAR checks), but we can’t do nothing because it’s their decisions at the end of the day. It’s VAR, I don’t know what to say about it, but it does need to change for our team.
“I feel like it’s going to come every game, but we’ve just got to deal with it and it’s a bit of a headache. Their decisions… because they are 80 per cent wrong most of the time, so we can’t change that. But I’d just change it.
“That was the first of many, but I’m going to enjoy that for the rest of the season, so yeah, it was good.
“I feel like we deserved more from the game. Obviously the referee’s decisions haven’t been going our way recently, but we’ve just got to look at it and take the point. I’m adapting to that type of formation. I’m winning aerial balls against bigger opponents, and I’m just getting used to that already, so it’s a good thing to my game.
“I feel like we should have won. All we can do is just take the point.”
