AMADOU Bakayoko has admitted he was unsurprised when Rangers were awarded a penalty against Dundee on Saturday - because he had heard the Glasgow club always get given spot kicks at Ibrox.
Dens Park manager Tony Docherty was unhappy with referee Kevin Clancy for handing the home side the chance to take the lead from 12 yards out following a VAR review in Govan at the weekend.
Match official Clancy ruled that Aaron Donnelly had pulled Abdallah Sima as he challenged for the ball at a corner after viewing a replay on his pitchside monitor and James Tavernier put the hosts 2-1 in front.
But Bakayoko, the Forest Green Rovers loanee who had fired the Tayside team ahead early on at a Lyall Cameron corner, fully expected the award to be given because he had been told about Rangers’ reputation.
“It was our plan to take the game by stages,” he said as he looked back on the 3-1 loss his side suffered. “Going 1-0 up very early on, we were comfortable. We thought we could hold on, dig in and try to get another one.
“But the game kind of swayed after they were given a penalty. We obviously had to change it up and couldn’t find a way to break through them again.
“I couldn’t really see what happened. I didn’t really get a good look at it. But they always manage to get penalties, don’t they? It’s one of the things that happens there.”
Bakayoko was the victim of a foul by Jose Cifuentes which earned the Rangers midfielder a red card in added-on time at the end of the first-half – Clancy upgraded his yellow after his VAR colleague had urged him to have another look at the incident.
The forward refused to say if he thought the referee got that call correct – but he argued that Dundee should have capitalised on their numerical superiority far better than they did in the second half.
“He stepped on me and the referee has made his decision and clearly looked at it and thought it was damaging,” he said. “Whether it was, or not, that’s the decision he’s made.
“We had a bit more belief after they got the red card. It was about finding ways to exploit them, but we didn’t really manage to do that.
“We didn’t find ways of getting through them. They were nice and compact and were brave on the counter attack, so it was quite difficult at the end for us.
“We think we can do a lot better. We expect a lot from ourselves and we know we can give a lot more that we did in the second half. It didn’t go to plan and now we have to look forward to the next one.”
The Sierra Leone internationalist revealed that he had enjoyed playing under Duncan Ferguson – who has transformed Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s fortunes since being appointed their manager in September – at Forest Green Rovers last season.
But he stressed that he has learned a lot from Docherty during the 2023/24 campaign and is excited about what lies ahead for Championship champions Dundee in the Premiership in the weeks and months ahead.
“It was quite difficult at Forest Green with the things that were happening there,” he said. “But the manager was really good with me and I still speak to him now and again.
“He’s a good guy to keep in contact with and he used to motivate us before every game. But working with this manager has been amazing. The boys have also been unbelievable.”
