As the Rangers side blew their chances against Hibs in Edinburgh, attention once again quickly turned to the standard of officiating on show in the Scottish Premiership.
Before we get into this, Rangers had the chances to win the match and are as much to blame themselves for not getting this result over the line.
Had Ryan Kent converted his opportunity at 2-1 the game would’ve been out of sight, had Scott Arfield shown greater composure at 2-2 we’d be heading back down the M8 with three points.
That’s before we mention the chances spurned by Alfredo Morelos and Filip Helander from corner kicks in the first and second halves respectively.
The ongoing discussion around referees is not consigned to matches we’ve dropped points in either – see the faff concerning Ryan Edwards assaulting Alfredo Morelos when we dismantled Dundee United.
Hibs were spirited in their performance but the gap between both sides was at times very clear – only Don Robertson’s team helped make up the difference.
There isn’t a league in world football where the weaker sides are given as much leeway to bend the rules of the game in order to level the playing field than in the Scottish one.
That’s not to say Rangers don’t need to react better to sides who get in our faces – we absolutely do – but when hammer throwers throw hammers those enforcing the rules should at least provide a semblance of protection.
From the moment Drey Wright wasn’t reprimanded for blatantly raking the Achilles of our best player right in front of the referee, it set the tone for the officiating.
Hibs were allowed to bruise their way to this draw with numerous flashpoints – always instigated by the Edinburgh side – seeming to always shine favourably on them.
I’m always going to have a tinge of blue in the spectacles I watch the matches with but surely any of those watching without a horse in the race would fail to agree that a lot of it was above board?
Porteous should’ve walked for the clash with Morelos, the Colombian caught in a Catch 22 where if he doesn’t make a meal of it Porteous gets off scot-free and because he did it’s taken less seriously.
Let’s also be real about the likely implications if this was the other way about.
Ianis Hagi’s jaw was also lucky to stay intact after being absolutely melted by the elbow of Paul Hanlon – the raising of the arm in question suitably suspicious. There’s no debate for me.
Any other league in the world – and by the letter of the law – this was a red too.
But perhaps most critically of the lot, the linesman criminally failed to flag when Martin Boyle was put through on his side of the pitch.
It allowed Hibs an equaliser – albeit off the back of a huge defensive lapse from Connor Goldson – from which we never recovered.
Yes, blame Rangers for shirking out of the fight, blame Rangers for their calamitous defending at times, even blame Rangers for failing to convert a series of glorious chances.
But oppositions fans, pundits, players and journalists need not sit there and patronise us by saying the woeful standard of officiating didn’t have an influence over the result.
Because in the end, it was absolutely central to Rangers dropping two points.
