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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Graeme Young & Mark Pirie

Aberdeen vs Rangers penalty no call splits pundits as Kris Boyd says YES and Michael Stewart insists 'you'd be fuming'

Oh Scottish Premiership, how you have been missed.

Goals, colour and a whole lot of talking points, there's nothing quite like it.

And it was a stick on that Aberdeen vs Rangers would deliver in terms of thrills and spills, it always does.

Supporters didn't have to wait long for a flashpoint as Ryan Hedges was convinced he was fouled inside the box by a hesitant Allan McGregor during the first half.

(SNS Group)

The Rangers keeper was certainly guilty of performing the hokey cokey, of that there's no doubt, but did he foul the Wales international?

Plenty more drama followed but during the 1-1 draw but the call to play on, 60 seconds before Ianis Hagi's opener is sure to rumble on.

That's what the pundits have been debating and there have been a wide range of opinions over Kevin Clancy's decision to play on.

Kris Boyd

"Yeah, it does look like it. I don't think you'd have been surprised if the referee Kevin Clancy had given it.

"But at the same time, you can understand why he's not as well. It's a difficult one.

"Rangers have tried to press high, Calvin Bassey has went in there with Ramirez and he's been caught.

(SNS Group)

"Allan can probably be a little bit sharper off his line in the first place.

"It's very difficult to sit here and say it's not a penalty.I think Rangers have got away with one.

"In terms of the transition for the goal, it was rapid."

Willie Miller

"I thought Barisic was very poor in his defensive duties, Hedges gets in behind, Allan McGregor thought about coming, didn't come and then came late."

"He then had a sort of star jump in front of Hedges, Hedges is a bit off balance, in my book, there is contact there and there's a big decision for the referee to make.

"What was Allan McGregor doing? His arms were all over the place, he's legs were up, he didn't make any contact with the ball.

"The only factor that maybe came into the referee's decision making was the way Hedges approached it, and he lobbed it over McGregor, he had lost his balance.

"I felt as if there was contact, for me it's a penalty or a free kick."

Michael Stewart

"There was contact.

"I said it could have been a free kick, then I saw it was inside the box and I thought, 'aye, it could have been a penalty'.

"Put it this way, it if it was given against you, you'd be fuming, if you're the attacking side you'd be claiming for it all day long."

Leanne Crichton

"For me, I think the contact from McGregor comes at the very end, I think Hedges puts his body in there with no real belief that he was ever going to regain the ball.

"So he has put himself in position where he is just looking for contact.

"I think if it was given, we probably we'd be sitting debating it very similarly.

"I think if it was given, I don't think you could complain."

Derek McInnes

"My first thought was, I wasn't sure to be honest. I kept thinking that Allan McGregor had to come out and help [Borna] Barisic.

"We've looked at it with a few different angles and it's not really conclusive. There's one angle where I think it shows Allan McGregor catches the left calf of Ryan Hedges. For me, if there is contact there, that looks like a penalty kick."

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