Willie Collum explains why Rangers star wasn't sent off after September incident

Willie Collum has explained why Rangers’ John Souttar wasn’t sent off for a handball offence in their 1-0 victory against Hibernian.

The incident occurred in stoppage time of the first half when Souttar blocked a goalbound shot with a raised arm, leading to a VAR check that awarded Hibernian a penalty which they ended up missing.

The handball was deemed not to have been deliberate nor was it deemed to have denied a clear goalscoring opportunity.

Referee chief Collum, in quotes reported by Daily Record on 16 October, said: “It’s a correct decision for us. Here, there’s every opportunity that the goalkeeper can save this shot. The fact that no card was shown could be debated. If the referee had deemed John Souttar’s actions as deliberate, he probably would have received a yellow card for blocking a shot deliberately at such close range from the goal.

“But because the referee and the VAR team don’t deem this as a deliberate handball, there’s no need for a yellow card because that was removed from the laws of the game. We would not support a red card. this is not an obvious goalscoring opportunity because the goalkeeper has the opportunity to save this shot.”

Rangers need to maintain this consistency

The Gers find themselves five points behind Celtic and Aberdeen having lost to the former and only picking up a point against Hearts earlier in the season.

With that said, Philippe Clement’s side have won their last four league games since that defeat and maintaining that run will be crucial to any hopes they have of narrowing that gap from the top.

Players like Ross McCausland and Tom Lawrence will be pivotal for Rangers with the latter registering four goal contributions in six league fixtures this season.

The return to the first team squad for Ianis Hagi will aid that push significantly as the Romanian has showcased what he is capable of on many occasions and his ability to create something out of nothing is something that Rangers have been missing in the two games they failed to win.

Perhaps fortunately for Rangers, Celtic and Aberdeen face each other this weekend (19 October) meaning that, providing the Gers can overcome Kilmarnock, the gap will shorten.

In other Rangers news, Tom English described John Souttar as “terrific” after the Rangers star’s performance for Scotland against Portugal on Tuesday.

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The post Willie Collum explains why Rangers star wasn't sent off after September incident appeared first on Ibrox News.