'I hate that...' - Pundit upset by what he saw at Ibrox as Rangers should have lost

Hibs would have beaten Rangers if Mykola Kukharevych had scored his penalty before half-time, insists Tam McManus.

The former Easter Road striker wrote in his Daily Record column on 5 October that he had “bottled” it from the spot at Ibrox himself before, with booing from the Gers fans turning his “legs to jelly” so knew how it felt.

But having been reprimanded for not putting power behind his own kick he also admitted he was not a fan of how Kikharevych went about his, allowing Jack Butland to save on 29 October.

McManus said: “I don’t know if that’s what happened to Kukharevych. But he didn’t help himself with his staggered run-up. I hate that approach to spot kicks. Especially pressure ones like that one at a pivotal moment that could’ve turned the match.

“If you’re going to place it then you have to do it harder than he did. You have to whip it across the keeper. Rangers were there for the taking. I genuinely think if that penalty had gone in just on half-time, Hibs would have gone on to win the game.”

Tam McManus bemoans Rangers win over Hibs at Ibrox

Philippe Clement was particularly upset at the penalty even being awarded after a VAR review penalised John Souttar for a handball.

But the SFA’s Key Match Incident panel (4 October) ruled unanimously that he had nothing to complain about in the 1-0 Gers victory.

In a scruffy affair the Belgian should probably have been glad that Kukharevych took a weak shot and Butland was in place to keep it out as the Light Blues recorded a vital but unconvincing win.

The Belgian will need to get his players back in the right mind set to continue getting results domestically, having been punished 4-1 by Lyon in the Europa League.

The Light Blues were not let off Vaclav Cerny’s open-goal miss on 3 October, while Connor Barron contributed a glaring error of his own.

Rangers are up to third after a rough start to the season but are still five points behind both Celtic and Aberdeen and can’t afford to compound the European loss with another slip up in Scotland.

In other Rangers news, a European legend has reacted to the “undeserved” treatment of one Light Blues ace.

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