“I want to know” Philippe Clement demands Kilmarnock v Rangers VAR penalty answers.
Rangers manager Philippe Clement has questioned the VAR team’s judgment in the team’s victory over Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership.
The Ibrox boss was speaking following his team’s comeback to win 2-1 on the road at Kilmarnock’s appalling Rugby Park field. The result might be key.
Midfielder John Lundstram was found to have handled the ball in the Kilmarnock box, sending Rangers into halftime behind 1-0.
However, it’s not just the penalty call in the first half against Rangers that has irritated Philippe Clement; the players Stuart Findlay and Lewis Mayo of Kilmarnock are also facing penalty inquests.
Philippe Clement on Kilmarnock penalty
The ball first makes contact with Lundstram’s arm within the outline of his body for the John Lundstram prize.
The midfield player then thrashes his arm outside of his body, and the spot kick is awarded after a very long period by referee David Dickinson and VAR.
At halftime, the decision was met with criticism from several, including former Rangers great Kevin Thomson.
But for some reason, in the second half, Rangers were not given a penalty for situations involving Kilmarnock players by either the referee or VAR.
In a one-on-one match with Cyriel Dessers, defender Stuart Findlay handled the ball; it bounced off the erratic surface.
When the score was 2-1 in injury time, former Rangers defender Lewis Mayo clearly touched the ball with a flailing arm, but VAR dismissed the protests.
Following the match, Philippe Clement told reporters he was curious as to why the Lewis Mayo incident in particular had not been given credit.
Clement stated, “I want to know why our penalty was given against but the one late on for us was not,” as cited by Joshua Barrie of the Rangers Review.
Rangers in Scottish Premiership VAR inquest
Comparisons between the two occurrences mentioned by Philippe Clement and the Stuart Findlay incident are undoubtedly warranted after the game.
Even though Rangers defeated Kilmarnock that evening, it was by the slimmest of margins, and the refereeing staff was in place to guarantee uniformity in the decisions made by all of them.
Rangers were eventually entitled to a penalty for the Lewis Mayo incident, if the Kilmarnock spot kick counted as one. However, it was never awarded, which led to an exciting match conclusion.
Danny Armstrong had given Killie the lead, but James Tavernier and Tom Lawrence goals in the second half gave Rangers a 2-1 victory.
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