After Rangers came away from their match with Hibs with all three points, you’d be forgiven for thinking we’d overcome the odds to achieve it.
Rangers were deserved winners of this match – and had it not been for stand-in Hibees goalie Dillon Barnes – would’ve probably put some level of shine on it.
But begrudging voices have instead chose to focus, and even misrepresent, certain incidents from the match such is the salty feeling hanging around Scottish football about Rangers’ form.
The suggestion that Hibs were a match for Rangers is a bit of stretch and – even if they did contribute to the game – they only managed one shot on target in 90 mins.
That’s almost forgivable, the begrudging feeling that Rangers sneaked this match a soother for some desperate to see the Gers falter.
But the suggestion that Hibs were denied two stonewall penalties or that Willie Collum chose to ignore two blatant fouls is just plain nonsense.
The first – that “high boot” from Ianis Hagi on Joe Newell – has been the most misrepresented of the two considering the player dived and there was no contact from the Rangers star’s foot.
Read some of the coverage and you’d think Hagi planted his big toe on Newell’s face.
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has since refuted the claim but it didn’t stop Newell complaining about the decision post-match [Edinburgh Live].
The other incident concerns James Tavernier and Ryan Porteous, which was anything but clear.
On his way down and out of the running to win the ball from a corner, Porteous clamours to the floor courtesy of a “trip” from James Tavernier and remonstrates for a penalty.
Whilst there might be a case, it’s a quiet one, and anyone describing that as a stonewall penalty is either over-eager to see Rangers drop points or has absolutely no idea what they’re talking about.
Porteous’ lethal, diving lunge on Kemar Roofe which went over the top of the ball in Hibs’ penalty box was the most concrete penalty shout of the match.
The coverage of these penalty shouts aims to buy into the bonkers, age-old Celtic fan conspiracy nonsense about masonic referees or Rangers bias to help elevate the arguments.
This salty narrative about Hibs being denied a penalty just feeds into thar rival paranoia, provides them with a comfort blanket and also slaps Rangers in the face for their good form.
The Ibrox club has now won their last 12 Scottish Premiership fixtures and has stretched out a 16-point lead in the Scottish top tier.
If the Gers are to go on and win this league title, they’ll have done so because they deserve it and not because they’ve been helped by referees.
That’s a fact which some are simply going to find a way to swallow if the Ibrox club can continue to keep up their good form and no amount of moaning will change it.
Here are our player ratings from the win over Hibs as Rangers defeated Hibs at Ibrox.
