Another Rangers game, another contrived penalty debate as Aberdeen were seen off to see Philippe Clement’s men go level on points with Celtic.
Nothing is won yet of course, but the Gers boss has seen a remarkable turnaround in form and a rocking Ibrox saw a squad united and focussed on the task in hand.
The task in hand in the Sky Sports studio seemed to be intent on stirring up more controversy and offering nothing insightful as Rangers dominated an Aberdeen side on their way to a deserved win.
Kris Boyd laughs off Rangers v Aberdeen conspiracy
When you watch the Premier League on Sky Sports, you get tactics led analysis.
There was a great opportunity last night with Neil Warnock’s first game seeing a subtle shift in Aberdeen’s play and the changes he made when Rangers went 2-1 up.
From Philippe Clement’s perspective, the difference in Todd Cantwell is staggering as has been the change in how the full-backs are now being used.
After years of being asked to supply cross, after cross, James Tavernier now spends most of his time alongside John Lundstram in midfield.
Rather than using their years of experience to break down the key components of Rangers victory, Sky Sports decided, via Eilidh Barbour, to focus on an incident that was nothing other than a pathetic attempt to create conspiracy.
The ball clearly touches Connor Goldson’s arm twice, that isn’t up for debate.
What was ignored by both Joe Lewis (worrying because he is still technically playing) and Chris Sutton (not surprising) is that they were intent on ignoring the laws of the game to fit their agenda.
In the first contact, the ball is hit against Goldson’s arm from a matter of inches away, if it doesn’t hit his arm it hits his body – no penalty.
In the second – ignoring that Don Robertson had already given a free-kick – he is falling over, with his back to the ball and the ball hits his supporting arm – no penalty.
This is where Boyd was completely in the right not to let them off with what they were trying to do and, with Sutton ignoring his defence of Celtic’s Alistair Johnston v Kilmarnock a few weeks ago, the former Gers hero couldn’t help but have the last word:
“Oh my days, talk about clutching at straws, let’s move on.”
That they then returned to the same incident again after it became clear Robertson had blown for a foul, Boyd was clearly not taking any nonsense suggesting that if they keep showing it the ref might eventually give Aberdeen a penalty.
Clearly irked by the agenda they were trying to set.
The coverage was appalling but, on this occasion, Boyd was right to resort to almost playground behaviour.
Sadly, with a chance to promote the Scottish game, Sky Sports decided to pander to the lowest common denominator instead.
