Cyriel Dessers’ goes leaves Scotland football fans divided as Rangers edge St. Johnstone in ViaPlay Cup

Super Eagles and Rangers centre-forward, came off the bench at the start of the second half in his side’s 2-0 win over St. Johnstone earlier today, Soccernet.ng reports.

Rangers boss, Phillipe Clement, opted to rest the Nigerian and in his stead, recalled Brazilian forward, Danilo. The Gers weren’t clinical up-front, and the Belgian head coach ducked into his Arsenal to bring Dessers on at the start of the second half.

The former Cremonese man broke the deadlock on the hour mark, side-footing a brilliant finish past Joshua Rae, but the goal was met by plenty of confusion after the Scottish referee, Matthew MacDermid chalked the goal off, and penalised Dessers for an adjudged foul on Jack Sanders.

After a long VAR check, the decision was overturned and the goal was awarded. However, it was also confirmed that the referee never blew the whistle for the foul. Watch the video here.

Cyriel Dessers gives Rangers the lead, but only after a very contentious VAR review

"St. Johnstone will be absolutely furious with this"

"Effectively, it is the right decision" #PremierSportsCup pic.twitter.com/u6mUkp1vZN

— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) August 17, 2024

The decision to overturn the goal was a debate in the Scottish media with former Southampton winger, Neil Mc Cann bashing the referee for allowing VAR to intervene.

“If a decision is given by the ref, the players will stop – they play to the whistle. The argument is the referee blew the whistle and gave the free-kick, I don’t think it should stand,” the 50-year-old said on Sportsound in quotes revealed by Daily Record UK.

On the other hand, former Manchester United midfielder, James Michael Stewart revealed the referee had made an honest error, but then ended up making the right decision.

“That is a mistake from the officials that they are obviously trying to rectify. It’s bizarre. If you see a free kick you don’t wait to see how the game plays out, you blow your whistle. This should be a goal because Dessers doesn’t foul the defender. But if the referee thought that he should have blown his whistle,” the former Scotland International said on punditry duty with Premier Sports.

Dessers had a hand in Rangers’ second goal of the game, flicking a brilliant ball into Ross McCausland‘s path, and the Nothern Irishman buried the ball into the bottom corner with barely any time left on the clock, sending Rangers to a quarter-final spot in the ViaPlay Cup.

Victory at Hampden.

Cyriel Dessers and Ross McCausland with the goals.

Rangers 2-0 St Johnstone | #PremierSportsCup pic.twitter.com/zMxR09rdjw

— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) August 17, 2024

Rangers return to league action next weekend as they welcome Ross County to Ibrox, with the hopes of continuing their decent domestic form.